Family Business
by cj10824
Summary: They grew up as rivals, but the rivalry never caught on. Now as freshmen in college with finally a little freedom, they realize that not everything is business. Sometimes, it's personal. TxG
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So I think I referred to a new story, way back after Never Torn Apart. Well, this is it. I had planned on finishing this story before I began posting, but I feel like I need to post now so I actually have motivation to write. I hope you all enjoy it! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or places created by HSM and Disney. **

* * *

"And that concludes today's lecture. Remember, your papers are due the week you get back. Have a great Thanksgiving break everyone. "

The moment the words were out of his professor's mouth, Troy Bolton sprung up out of his seat, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder, before darting out of the classroom along with the other eager students. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and seeing he had a missed call from his mom, he dialed her number.

"Hello."

"Hey mom, it's me."

"Hi Troy. I was just calling to see when you'd be on your way," Lucille said in a cheery voice.

Troy rolled his eyes at his mother's cheerfulness. This had been the third time he'd talked to her that day, and he knew she'd been so excited that he would be coming home for a few days.

"I just got out of class mom; I'm headed for my room, and once I grab my stuff, I'll be on my way."

"Sounds good, sweetie. I'm just out picking up some groceries, and then I'm going to stop by the store. By the way, your dad says you need to pick up the morning shift tomorrow."

Troy sighed. Why almost every other student got to enjoy a few days off of school while he had to get up before the sun rose and work at his family's sports store, he'd never know. He knew his dad depended on his extra help though, especially during the holidays.

"Okay mom. I'll see you in a few. Bye."

With that, Troy hung up his phone as he pushed open the door to his room to see his roommate, standing in front of their TV with a guitar strapped around his neck and his afro covered head nodding to the beat coming from the TV.

Troy tossed his backpack on his bed just as he heard a yell of frustration.

"Ah, come on! I totally whammied that guy. What the heck?"

Troy laughed seeing Chad chuck the guitar in frustration onto their small couch before collapsing on his bed.

"Hey Chad. You lose again?"

"Yeah. This freakin' guy—Slash. I'll tell you what, I'd like to slash him…chop up his little guitar…then…"

"Chad," Troy interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"You're an idiot." Troy finished with a straight face, before grinning.

Chad rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well I'd like to see you beat this game. I've been at it for hours, and I keep getting so close. I promised myself I'd finish the game before going home."

"At this rate, you may not get to go home for break." Troy smirked, ducking his head when a pillow came flying at him.

"Shut up. Anyways, when are you heading back home?"

"In a few minutes. I just have to grab my stuff." Troy walked over to his desk and grabbed a few textbooks, stuffing them into his backpack, before grabbing his small duffel bag that was already packed and placing his pillow on top.

"You guys playing in the family basketball tournament this year?" Chad asked referring to the annual Holiday 3-on-3 basketball tournament that began the week after Thanksgiving in Albuquerque, and lasted until early January.

"Yeah, we're definitely playing. In fact, I probably should expect the hardcore practices to begin tomorrow. Wonderful," Troy added sarcastically, thinking of the long day he would be facing. "Alright man, I gotta go. I'll see you sometime this weekend."

Troy exchanged a high five with Chad before slinging his bags over his shoulder and heading out of the residence hall to his car. Tossing the bags in the front seat, Troy climbed in before putting the key in the ignition. Sounds of his favorite band filled his ears. Troy grinned, rolling down the windows and driving off towards home, excited for the few moments of peace he'd have.

---

Gabriella Montez walked through her front door on a sunny Friday afternoon.

"Hey guys, I'm home," she yelled taking the steps by two as she went upstairs to throw her bags down.

"Hey Gabi," Anna Montez greeted her once she was back downstairs. "How was school this week?"

"Good," she answered, smiling at her mom. "I'm excited for the break though," she sighed, referring to the one week break from the University of Albuquerque.

"Hey Gabs!" Gabriella looked over her shoulder and smiled at her older brother Matt who walked in from the backyard, sweat on his forehead and a basketball under one arm. "Home again? We just saw you last weekend. Seriously, you come home too often."

"Well at least I'm not a twenty-one year old single college graduate still living at home," Gabriella responded with a smirk on her face.

"Haha. Nice one, lil' sis. Come here," Matt said dryly before pulling her into a big hug, wrapping his arms tighter when she tried to push him away, cringing at his sweat. "Good to see you. I'm serious," he added quickly, seeing the skeptical look on Gabriella's features. "I missed having you around."

"Wish I could say the same," Gabriella taunted, walking towards the kitchen. Suddenly she felt something tugging on her leg, a grin forming as she looked down.

"Hi Ethan!" Gabriella greeted, placing two hands on her three year old brother's waist and tossing him up into her arms.

"Gabi! I miss you," Ethan said before he kissed her cheek.

"Aww, I missed you too sweetie," she responded before dropping a kiss his head. "You want some ice cream?"

"Yay!" Ethan cried out, clapping his hands happily while Gabriella carried him towards the freezer. She went to grab the ice cream scoop just when her mom entered the kitchen.

"Hey you two. Don't spoil your dinner. We're eating with the Martinez family tonight."

"Alright mom, just a little though, okay?" Gabriella said whispering something to Ethan. Anna rolled her eyes and shook her head amusedly seeing them both put on their best pouting faces.

"You two are too cute. Okay, fine…I cave. But, just a little bit."

"Thanks mommy!" They chorused, scooping large spoonfuls of cookies and cream into their mouths.

"Hey kids!" Gabriella and Ethan glanced up simultaneously and waved at their dad, before scooping more ice cream into their mouths. "Gabi, you remember you have the first shift tomorrow, right?" Carlos asked.

"Yes Dad. I'll be there," Gabriella mumbled the best she could with her mouth full of ice cream.

"Good. Okay, I'm going to go get ready for dinner. We'll leave around 5:30. Gabi, I think Michael is going to be there tonight." Carlos added with a knowing smile causing Gabriella to subtly roll her eyes.

"Awesome," Gabriella forced out, uncertain if her sarcasm was well hidden.

"Carlos, leave her alone. Michael is a nice boy, but she doesn't want to date him," Anna chimed in, trying to help out her daughter.

"Well, he is a nice young man. She really needs to start thinking about dating," Carlos added, before walking out of the kitchen causing Gabriella and Anna both to shake their heads.

"Ethan, one day when you are a dad…let your daughter choose her own guy, okay?" Gabriella asked ruffling his hair.

"Okay Gabi," Ethan replied smiling and peering at the ice cream bowl the two were sharing before looking up at Gabriella innocently.

Gabriella laughed and put some on a spoon before holding it out in front of his mouth. Ethan clapped his hands together before taking the bite. Gabriella smiled once again and kissed the top of his head before taking her own bite of ice cream. No matter how much her father and his insistent need to butt into her life, coming home was always worth it if she could be around her little brother who never failed to put a smile on her face.

---

"Hey everyone, I'm home," Troy yelled, tossing his bags on the ground.

"Troy!"

Troy smiled seeing his mom rush towards him before wrapping him in a hug. She lightly ruffled his hair, as Troy groaned in protest before smoothing it out.

"Where is everyone?"

"Nathan and your dad are in the living room. Amy's in her room. She is taking a na-," Lucille stopped, letting out a sigh, hearing cries coming from the room at the end of the hall.

Lucille began to walk towards the room before she felt someone lightly tug on her arm.

"Don't worry mom…I got it. You relax," Troy assured her before walking towards his crying sister.

"Hey princess," Troy's soft voice filled the room. He gathered his sister in his arms and dried her tears with his hands before kissing her on the cheek. "I missed you. You've gotten so big since the last time I saw you."

Troy smiled as Amy reached up to touch his face.

"Let's go watch some TV, huh?" Troy asked, tickling her stomach while they walked towards the living room.

"Hey guys! What are we watching?" Troy took a seat on the couch, Amy in his lap.

"Lakers vs. Heat pre-game," Nathan responded, grabbing some chips from the bowl on the coffee table.

"So Troy? How's U of A?" Jack lowered the volume on the TV while turning towards his son.

"Awesome. The guys have been scrimmaging since the semester started, and we just had practice start last week. Classes are good; not as difficult as I thought." Troy kissed Amy's head when she wrapped her hand around his finger.

"You didn't mention any girls there, little bro," Nathan piped up with a smirk.

"Nope." Troy responded nonchalantly, his attention on his baby sister.

"Nathan, Troy doesn't need to worry about girls. Right now he needs to focus on basketball and his grades. I'd be happy in fact if he doesn't date for awhile," Jack said.

"Thanks Dad; glad I have your support on that one," Troy said sarcastically causing Nathan to laugh.

Troy just shook his head. In his eighteen years, he'd dated a few girls here and there, but having an over-zealous dad as a basketball coach left little room for a life outside of basketball. Even though he'd never had times for girls or been in a serious relationship, that didn't mean he didn't want to date or have a girlfriend.

"So," Nathan began, "what time are we practicing tomorrow?"

Troy groaned at the mention of the upcoming annual 3-on-3 Holiday basketball tournament. As much as Troy loved basketball, he was dreading this knowing how competitive his family got.

"Well, you two are working the morning shift tomorrow at the store. I'll be in around noon. How 'bout we practice after I get done around 5:00?"

Nathan and Troy simultaneously groaned. "The early shift?!" Nathan whined. "Dad, I had the early shift today."

"Do we have to start practicing this early? I just got on vacation. Can't I have a day to relax before we get into the hardcore practices?"

"No days off Troy," his dad answered sternly. "We need to practice hard this year so we can beat the Montez family."

"Fine," both of the boys muttered before turning their attention to the TV watching the opening tip-off of the game.

Troy shook his head once again, thinking about the upcoming weeks. The rivalry between the Montez family and the Bolton family went as far back as he could remember.

From what his dad had told him, Carlos Montez had attended West High and was the basketball captain there, while Jack went to East High where he was basketball captain. A few years later, the cross-town high school rivals had become cross-street business rivals, both of them owning sporting goods stores on opposite sides of the street.

Troy couldn't remember a time when the families weren't at each others' throats. Well, he and his mom didn't get too involved, and he knew it was the same for Mrs. Montez and Gabriella. But that didn't stop the men, and their firstborn sons, from pushing each others' buttons. To make matters worse, the two families also lived right by each other, with their backyards back to back, but both Jack and Carlos were too stubborn to move, each claiming they would outlast the other.

A wiggling Amy brought Troy out of his thoughts. Seeing she was getting a little restless, Troy decided to get up.

"Hey guys, I think I'm gonna go outside and shoot some hoops. I'll take Amy out there with me."

Grabbing her seat by the front door, Troy placed her in it and grabbed a basketball before heading outside, glad for the momentary freedom from his dad's pestering.

--

Gabriella felt a smile form on her face as she opened the sliding door and walked into her backyard. She had just changed into a light blue sundress for dinner that night. She was dreading the dinner with the Martinez family, but looking forward to having a few moments of peace on her own. Grabbing the latest issue of ESPN magazine, she situated herself on the lounge chair in the backyard.

As she turned the page reading an article on the NBA season, she heard a basketball bouncing in the neighbor's yard.

'So the Boltons are already practicing. Ugh…I hope I don't have to practice before my shift tomorrow,' Gabriella thought before she focused her attention on the Lakers' section of the article.

Suddenly she heard something land on the grass in her backyard, and looked up to see a basketball lying there. She just shrugged and kept reading, not wanting to throw the ball back in case Matt or her dad saw and an unnecessary feud began. Hearing the sliding door shut next door, she figured whoever was shooting went inside to get another ball like always.

Just as she was getting back into the article, Gabriella heard something else land on the grass and looked up, shocked to see Troy Bolton standing in her backyard.

"Um, hey." Troy rubbed the back of his neck nervously, straightening up from his previous crouched position.

"Hi." Gabriella replied, slightly confused as to why he'd be in her back yard, her look causing a sheepish grin to make its way onto Troy's face.

She grinned at her blue-eyed neighbor, the guy she was supposed to hate, but never really could. Standing up, she walked closer, checking over her shoulder to make sure her family wasn't watching. Despite their families being enemies, Troy and Gabriella both had never had any problems with each other, but out of respect for their families they rarely interacted.

"I thought you'd be gone to Harvard," Troy commented, making small talk.

"Harvard? Where'd you hear that?" Gabriella replied laughing softly. "I didn't even apply there. I wanted to stay close to home. I go to U of A."

"No way!? Same here! That's weird we haven't seen each other."

"Well it's a big school."

"Yeah, I guess. You playing ball there this year?" Troy asked curiously.

"Yeah. Practices just started last week. You?"

"Yep. Man, that's strange we haven't seen each other yet. I guess our practice schedules haven't overlapped yet. You live at home?"

"No, I live on campus. In Warren Hall."

"Crazy! I live in Weston," Troy replied referring to the other freshman dorm right next to Warren Hall.

Gabriella smiled, not sure of what else to say.

"Catchin' up on the upcoming season?" Troy broke the awkward silence, pointing at her magazine.

"Yeah, the Lakers look good this year. They might just win it all," Gabriella replied smiling.

"I hope so," Troy said excitedly, shocked because most of the girls he talked to knew nothing about sports. Gabriella actually knew what she was talking about and she was holding her own in the conversation. A silence fell over them while they looked at each other, smiles on both of their faces.

"Gabriella!?" Carlos yelled from inside the house, the two glancing at the house in fear.

"Hide!" Gabriella whispered at Troy.

"Where?" Troy asked, both of them nervously looking around the yard.

Panicking, Gabriella hurried closer and grabbed Troy's wrist dragging him around the side of the house. She opened a door and pushed him gently into a closet before shutting it and spinning around.

"Coming daddy!" Gabriella yelled, walking back around the house just in time to see Carlos stepping into the backyard.

"Sweetheart, we're going to leave for dinner in about five minutes. I just wanted to make sure you're ready."

"Yeah I am," she replied distractedly, glancing back at the outside closet where Troy was.

"Any Bolton practices going on?" Carlos nodded his head towards the Bolton's house.

"Um, I heard someone shooting hoops a few minutes ago. But they went inside." Gabriella lied, glancing again towards the closet, hoping Troy was okay.

"Ah, well we are going to practice even harder than them, and we are definitely winning this year. Last year they got lucky, and there is no way we are letting them win back-to-back. Matt and I were thinking we'd practice tomorrow around 4:30. Does that work for you?"

"Sure daddy." Gabriella lightly kissed his cheek, hoping he would go inside so she could get Troy out of her backyard before someone noticed.

Carlos smiled at her before going back inside. Once the door shut, Gabriella ran towards the side of the house again and swung open the closet door. She smirked and laughed slightly at Troy, who was oblivious to her standing there, his attention on a squirt gun he'd discovered in the closet full of pool toys.

"What?" Troy looked up grinning at her, shooting a stream of water over her shoulder.

"Nothing. But you better get back over to your house before my parents come back out. I have to leave in a few minutes and they are bound to come back out and get me." Gabriella lightly grabbed his wrist trying to tug him outside.

Troy stepped out, but tripped when his foot got caught in a volleyball net, propelling him forward. His body crashed into Gabriella's, his hands on her shoulders while hers landed on his waist, both managing to stay upright.

"Clumsy much?" Gabriella smirked raising an eyebrow, her hands returning to her sides.

"Haha," Troy deadpanned with an amused smile, rolling his eyes playfully at her before walking over and picking up his basketball that was still on the lawn.

"Thanks for the talk, Gabi," Troy told her as he turned back before climbing the fence. "Hopefully we will see each other again this break."

And with that, Troy hopped over the fence, disappearing from her view. Unable to help herself, Gabriella felt a grin tug at her lips, going into a slight daze as she realized he had called her 'Gabi'. She snapped out of it when she heard a basketball swish through a net and hit the cement next door.

"Better get this over with," Gabriella said quietly to herself making her way towards the house, suddenly realizing that there now was more than one reason she wasn't looking forward to the dinner with the Martinez family.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Beep! Beep! Beep! _

"Ugh!" Troy yelled out. Throwing the blankets off of his body, he swung his arm over and shut off the offending alarm clock.

"Freakin' 6:00 in the morning. I hate my life," Troy mumbled, swinging his legs out of bed and rubbing his eyes, trying to wake up. After a long yawn, he stood up stretching slightly before grabbing his towel and stepping into the bathroom that connected his and Nathan's rooms.

After taking a quick shower and getting dressed in a pair of black basketball shorts and a white collared shirt that said 'Bolton's Sporting Goods', Troy stumbled downstairs. He poured himself a bowl of cereal and milk and sleepily walked over to the TV turning on ESPN.

Cheering to himself once he saw the Lakers' highlights from their win the previous night, Troy glanced at the clock and saw it was 6:30.

"Just enough time to stop by and get some coffee before my shift."

Troy walked into the kitchen, tossed his bowl in the sink and grabbed his keys off the counter, before throwing on a grey hoodie and heading out the door.

----

Gabriella stumbled into the coffee shop at 6:30 in the morning, barely awake enough to open her eyes to read the menu.

"Well, long time, no see. Long night?" The peppy blonde-haired clerk asked popping up from behind the counter.

"Hey Sharpay! Definitely a long night. I had to go to dinner with Michael Martinez and his family." Gabriella grumbled to her current roommate and best friend since elementary school.

"No way!? That sucks! Your parents set it up?" Sharpay asked sympathetically.

"Oh yeah. They have their hearts set on me marrying him; too bad for them that isn't going to happen. The stupid punk wouldn't stop trying to put his arm around my chair or grab my hand during dinner. At one point, he put his hand on my knee, so I 'accidentally' tipped his water over onto his pants." The two girls burst into laughter gaining the attention of the handful of other customers.

"So what will you have? You working the early shift today?"

"I'll have a regular caramel ice blended, and a blueberry muffin," Gabriella replied. "And, to answer your other question, yeah…I have the early shift. I get off at 4:00, but then we are practicing tonight at 4:30."

The coffee shop door dinged, indicating another customer had walked in, but the two girls didn't notice, still caught up in their conversation.

"For the 3-on-3 tournament?" Gabriella nodded. "Ah, yes, the competitive Montez men strike again. I'm sure the Boltons are practicing tonight too."

"Unfortunately, we are," a male voice said startling the two girls.

Gabriella turned her head around and her dark brown eyes met light blue ones. Troy waved awkwardly and grinned, causing Gabriella to smile back in response.

"Early shift today?" Gabriella asked, noticing his work clothes.

"Yep. I come home from college, and the first day back they decide to bless me with the opportunity to wake up at 6:00 AM," Troy muttered sarcastically. Gabriella giggled and Troy stared at her amusedly.

"Yeah, what's with that? My parents decided to give me the early shift too. Don't they know that as college students, we go to sleep at like 3:00 AM, and wake up at 10:00 AM?"

"Apparently not. With my luck, I'll probably end up with the early shift all week. Which means, I'll be a frequent customer here every morning."

"So, what would you like this morning?" Sharpay asked interrupting the conversation.

"Oh, um…I'll have a regular vanilla ice blended, extra whipped cream," Troy replied as he grabbed a five dollar bill out of his wallet. "By the way, I'm Troy. I don't think we've met before."

"Sharpay Evans. Nice to meet you." Sharpay replied, giving him back his change. "So how do you two know each other?" Troy asked gesturing to Sharpay and Gabriella.

"Oh, we've been best friends since forever. We are roomies at U of A." Gabriella smiled, glancing at Sharpay.

"Seriously, you go to U of A too?" Sharpay nodded. "Dang, seems like I am completely oblivious to everyone."

"It's cool, Troy. It's not like I'm in any of your classes or anything. Although, I think you know my boyfriend, Zeke Baylor."

"Oh, yeah. Zeke, he went to West High, right?" Sharpay nodded her head.

"A regular caramel blended and a regular vanilla blended with extra whipped cream!" The barista called out as she set the drinks on the counter.

Troy and Gabriella both walked over to the counter, grabbing their drinks and straws.

"Nice choice," Troy spoke up pointing at her drink.

"You too. Ice blended drinks here are incredible," Gabriella gushed, placing her straw into her cup and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Wanna sit down for a few minutes?" Troy asked pointing towards a couch in the corner of the coffee shop.

Gabriella looked around nervously, worried about the potential of someone in her family or from the store seeing her. She looked up at Sharpay who had been listening to the conversation.

"YES! He's hot!" Sharpay mouthed. Gabriella rolled her eyes in amusement, turning her attention back to Troy.

"Sure," Gabriella said simply before following him over to the couch, slightly hidden in the corner.

"What time do you work till?" Troy asked as they took a seat.

"4:00. You?"

"Same," he replied as he took a sip of coffee.

"Who do you guys play this weekend in the 3-on-3 tourney?" Gabriella asked.

"I think we play the Martinez family."

"Ugh," Gabriella mumbled under her breath.

"You don't like the Martinez family?" Troy asked, surprising her since she thought he hadn't heard her.

"Well, they're nice. It's just their son," Gabriella said looking up at Troy who nodded his head, urging her to continue. "My parents seem to have it in their heads that I should date and marry their son, Michael…and he seems to have it in his head too. I dumped his drink in his lap last night because he touched my knee at dinner."

Troy burst out laughing, almost choking on the coffee he had in his mouth. Once he gained control again, he leaned towards her. "Remind me to stay on your good side," Troy whispered softly before pulling back and winking at her, making her blush lightly.

Troy smiled, admiring how cute she looked while blushing. Their eyes met for a few moments before they both blushed and looked away, Gabriella's eyes catching the clock.

"Crap! It's 6:55; I gotta get to work."

The two stood up and headed towards the door waving at Sharpay. Troy opened the door, holding it for Gabriella to walk through first.

"Hopefully I'll see you later," Gabriella said as she looked both ways before walking out into the street.

"Yeah, thanks for having coffee with me. Bye Gabi!" Troy yelled before he turned to the left walking a few stores down till he reached the Bolton Sporting Goods Store. He turned around to see Gabriella walking into Montez Family Sports across the street. Troy smiled as he placed his key in the lock and unlocked the store, going inside to begin the long day.

---

Troy rested his elbows on the counter and leaned his head in his hands, watching the seconds tick on the clock. It was almost 11:00 AM, and he couldn't remember the last time he was this excited for a lunch break. He hadn't worked the early shift since the summer, and he definitely wasn't adjusted to the lack of sleep he experienced.

"Alright Troy, you can have an hour break," Jack said as he came over to the register where Troy and the other employee, Chris, were standing. "Bring Nathan, Chris, and I something back from wherever you go. Here's thirty bucks."

"Thanks Dad! I'll be back by noon," Troy yelled out before he darted out the front door. He stopped briefly to glance across the street, hoping to see Gabriella walking out the store as well. After standing there for a few seconds, he decided to head towards the café at the end of the block.

Troy walked in the small café, and ordered a turkey sandwich and a bottle of water. After being given his food, he scanned the room looking for a place to sit. He grinned when his eyes landed on a dark-haired brunette sitting in the corner, reading the Sports section of the newspaper.

"You know, you should really stop following me." Gabriella jumped feeling a hand gently squeeze her shoulder. Troy chuckled as she looked up at him, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Me? Following you? I don't think so. Who was here first? Oh, that's right. I believe it was me."Gabriella responded playing along.

"Alright, you win. This seat taken?"

"No, but you do know if we keep talking, eventually someone's gonna find out and our families are going to start World War III?"

"Well," Troy said taking the seat across from her, "I'm not going to stop hanging out with my new friend, just cause my dad has some unresolved issues." Troy winked at her before taking a bite of his sandwich. Gabriella felt her heart flutter at his words.

"Friend?" Gabriella inquired smoothly, hoping she was hiding her nerves as well as she thought.

But the moment her eyes connected with his, she knew those hopes were gone. She'd be lying to herself if she said she hadn't noticed a slight attraction to Troy, and the way he was looking at her was causing her to feel like she had a school girl crush.

"Friend." Troy replied firmly, still smiling at her. "And as friends, I propose a hang out at some point this week before we head back to school. Although, that doesn't mean I don't want to hang out at school. Unless, I mean, if you don't want to, we can-," Troy stopped rambling as a chip hit his face.

"You were rambling," Gabriella said smirking before placing a chip in her mouth. "So, when is this hang out going to take place? And where, because I really don't want my family to find out and flip out on me. They may decide to give me the early shift over the entire winter break in that case."

Troy laughed almost choking on his water, causing Gabriella to reach over and pat his back.

"You okay?" She asked, giggling at his embarrassed look that she found adorable.

"Yeah, thanks." Troy cleared his throat. "So how about we hang out tonight after practices? Say around 8:30? I'll tell my family that I'm meeting my friend Chad at the mall, and you can say you're meeting Sharpay there too? We can maybe catch a movie or something," Troy suggested hiding his hands under the table while he nervously twiddled his thumbs.

Gabriella nodded, still in disbelief that this was all happening. She knew that the two of them were heading into dangerous territory, striking up this friendship. She didn't even want to think what her dad and older brother would say and do if they found out. But she knew she had thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with Troy so far, even though it was only a few minutes. And the thought of getting to know him better brought a smile to her face.

"Alright. 8:30 it is," she agreed. "I better get back to work; I have to take my dad and brother food, and hungry Montez men equal extremely angry Montez men." Gabriella laughed, standing up.

"I gotta jet too. My dad wanted me to bring back some food. So, I'll see you tonight? Meet me by the Starbucks?" Troy asked unable to hide his excitement.

"Okay. I'll be there at 8:30. See you tonight!"

----

Gabriella walked over to the bench and pulled her phone out of her bag, and seeing it was 5:30, she slipped it back into her bag. She had just got finished practicing a few plays with her dad and brother at the park in preparation for their game in one week.

"So kids, we're playing at noon next Saturday. We play the Nielson family, but as long as we play smart, we can beat them." Carlos dribbled the ball back and forth between hands while talking to Matt and Gabriella.

"When do we play the Boltons?" Matt asked excitedly.

"Two weeks," Carlos responded. "And, we better get a lot of practice in. We have to beat them this year."

"Yeah, I hate those guys," Matt added. Neither he nor Carlos noticed Gabriella rolling her eyes in response. "Hey dad, you remember when we prank called their store, pretending to be a county supervisor coming in to do an inspection?" Matt asked, unable to suppress his laughter.

"Oh yeah!" Carlos joined in laughing, "Jack Bolton was running around washing all the windows, and cleaning up the store frantically waiting for the supervisor who never showed up. That was so great watching those guys do all that work for nothing."

"Ha ha ha, hilarious! Yet not as funny as the time when we set up that remote trigger on your doorbell and watched you guys keep running to the front door when no one was there." Carlos, Matt, and Gabriella all spun around to see Nathan smirking at them as he, Jack, and Troy walked onto the court.

"Bolton." Matt grimaced.

"Sup Montez?" Nathan asked, still smirking.

"Yeah son, that had to be one of the best pranks we've ever pulled. Seeing these two run around the house trying to chase down whoever was ringing their doorbell and taking off…priceless." Jack patted Carlos on the shoulder in a condescending way, laughing at Carlos who roughly pushed his hand away.

"Well, I'm sure it wasn't as funny the next day when you mysteriously were without power in your store." Carlos high-fived Matt, who was bent over in laughter.

Troy rubbed the back of his neck, sneaking a glance at Gabriella who was shaking her head, both of them too embarrassed to even look at their families. Gabriella shrugged before looking away. Despite the fact that they both wanted to stand next to each other and talk some more, they didn't want to create even more tension. So, they respected their fathers' wishes and pretended like they couldn't stand each other.

"Alright, Carlos, we have to get some practice time in, so the court is ours," Jack said as he slapped the ball out of Carlos' hands and went to shoot the ball, but missed as it rimmed in and out and bounced back to Carlos.

"Well, normally I would protest and tell you to get off my court, but it looks like you need the practice." Carlos smirked, shoving the ball roughly in Jack's gut. "Come on kids. These Boltons may not even win a game this year if they don't get some practice in. Jack, you need us to lower the hoop a little so it's easier for you three?" Carlos asked egging him on.

"Shut up Montez!" Jack said before he chucked the ball at him roughly. "See you next week on the court."

With that Carlos and Matt started laughing, and the two along with Gabriella turned for the cars. Unable to stop herself, Gabriella glanced back over her shoulder and saw Troy looking back at her. Troy let his eyes drift over to his dad and Nathan, and seeing they were busy, he looked back at Gabriella.

Troy smiled and waved slightly. "See you tonight," he mouthed, a grin tugging at his lips.

Gabriella smiled and shyly waved back, nervously biting her lip as she nodded her head.

---

Troy's eyes scanned over the many people gathered outside of the Starbucks. Not seeing Gabriella, he pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Noticing only a minute had passed and it was only 8:26, Troy sighed and closed his phone before slipping it back in his pocket, glancing around to make sure he didn't miss her. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around quickly, allowing a grin to erupt on his face as he laid his eyes on his new friend.

"Hey!" Troy said glancing up and down and noticing her simple cardigan, jeans, and pair of black converse shoes.

"Hi," Gabriella returned admiring his appearance in a pair of dark jeans and black polo shirt, his dark brown hair spiked up slightly.

"So, you want some coffee?" Troy asked.

"Sure, sounds great."

Troy smiled and opened the door placing his hand on the middle of her back, leading her into the Starbucks. After getting their coffee, the two began to walk down the mall towards the movie theater.

"What movie are we seeing?" Gabriella turned towards him and their arms slightly brushed, both of them nervously jumping apart at the contact.

"Well, your choice," Troy said before naming off the options—two comedies, one horror, one action, and one romantic comedy.

"Ah, well let's see the action movie."

"Really? Huh, I was almost certain you would pick the romantic comedy. I had already prepared myself for watching a chick flick," Troy said cheekily.

"Well, Bolton, if you really want to watch a girly movie and get in touch with your feminine side…who am I to stop you?" She grinned, laughing as he put his hand over his heart, pretending to be insulted.

"Montez," Troy scolded playfully.

"Yes?" She stretched the word out, a grin slowly forming on her face.

"_Not_ funny. The action movie it is," Troy said before he walked up to the ticket booth and paid for their tickets. Gabriella protested, but they compromised as Troy reluctantly agreed to let her buy some snacks.

The two made their way up the theater steps, stopping near the top—a few rows in front of the back row. Troy sat down, setting his soda in the cupholder and placing the popcorn in his lap.

He raised an eyebrow when Gabriella reached over, dumping a bag of M&Ms into the bucket. "What was that for?"

"Don't tell me you've never had chocolate mixed in with your popcorn Bolton."

Troy looked at her, eyebrows still raised. "Um, no."

Gabriella shook her head, amused yet disappointed. Reaching over, she grabbed a piece of popcorn and a M&M. "Here," she offered, handing some to him, "be prepared for amazing things."

Troy laughed and let her drop the popcorn and candy in his hand before popping it into his mouth, glancing up at Gabriella to see her watching in interest as he slowly chewed.

"Well?" She pushed.

Troy grinned. "It's alright," He shrugged, before chuckling at the look on her face and eating some more.

"Told you it was good. Now you'll never be able to eat popcorn without the chocolate."

"You're right, I'm addicted," Troy deadpanned, grabbing another handful and smirking as Gabriella giggled before sitting back in her seat as the theater darkened and the movie began.

As they walked out of the theater almost two hours later, Troy smiled thinking back to the past few hours. Throughout the movie, the two found themselves sneaking glances at each other, sometimes at the same time which led to them both quickly glancing away with pink tinted cheeks. Troy felt his face flush remembering the small strange spark he felt the couple of times they both brushed hands when reaching into the popcorn tub.

"So, do you need a ride back?" Troy asked after a few moments.

"No, I drove here. But thanks for the offer," Gabriella replied smiling sweetly.

"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow? Maybe we could go grab some ice cream?" Troy asked hopefully.

"Sounds great. Goodnight Troy," Gabriella said stopping outside of the Starbucks where they met up and turning to face him. The two stood there awkwardly unsure if they should shake hands, exchange a high-five, a hug, or just an awkward wave.

"Goodnight Gabi," Troy boldly took the initiative and held out his arms to give her a hug. Gabriella grinned and stepped into his awaiting arms, feeling herself relax slightly into the hug for a few seconds.

Pulling apart, Gabriella smiled up at Troy, waving slightly. "Bye."

"See you tomorrow!" Troy waved back before heading back towards his car.

Troy walked into his bedroom after arriving home and couldn't help the smile that seemed to be plastered onto his face. He moved over to his window and looked at the Montez house, hoping to see Gabriella.

He saw the light go on in her bedroom and smiled as she walked to the window and waved at him. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Troy waved once again, and turned to walk over to his bed.

Once he had gotten into bed, Troy reached over and turned off the light, letting out a sigh knowing that he was developing a slight crush on Gabriella, and understanding that the rivalry between their families was problematic. Little did he know that across his backyard, up in her bedroom, Gabriella let out a similar sigh as she pondered her new feelings for the blue-eyed boy next door.

* * *

**AN: Thank you for the response to the first chapter. You guys are all awesome. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too. School is almost done, so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently this summer. Thanks again!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I'm so sorry it's been awhile since I updated. I got distracted with other stories and a oneshot, lol. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Thanks for all of the reviews so far, I really appreciate reading all of your comments! **

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Gabriella woke up to her bed shaking and loud giggles early Saturday morning. She groaned and cracked open one eye to see Ethan happily jumping on the end of her bed, turning in circles as he jumped.

"Gabi, wake up! Gabi, wake up!" Ethan chanted repeatedly, slightly out of breath while his jumping continued.

Gabriella smiled, and once Ethan's back was to her, she shot up and grabbed him around the waist pulling him down on top of her as she lay back down.

"Yay! Gabi, you're awake!" Ethan sloppily kissed her cheek.

"Thanks," Gabriella muttered sarcastically wiping off her cheek, unable to hide her grin.

"You're welcome!" Ethan grinned, wrapping his arms around her neck and snuggling into her.

"Morning bud! Why are you jumping on my bed at," Gabriella glanced at her clock and groaned,"7:15 in the morning?"

"Daddy said to wake you up for basketbaw," Ethan said proudly, his pronunciation making Gabriella giggle.

"Mmmm…something smells good. What's mommy making for breakfast?"

"Fwench Toast!"

"Well, let's go get some before Matt eats it all, huh?"

"Yeah, hurry Gabi!" Ethan jumped up and Gabriella sat up as well, laughing when Ethan climbed onto her back.

The two went downstairs and entered the kitchen happily.

"Morning mom!" Gabriella leaned over and gave her mom a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi mommy!" Ethan yelled out as he climbed up Gabriella's back a little bit to lean over and kiss his mom's cheek.

"Thank you!" Anna Montez beamed at her two children. "Breakfast is at the table."

Gabriella walked over to the table, and set Ethan down on his booster chair before sitting down right beside him. She smiled when she saw the whipped cream on the table.

"What's with the smile?" Matt asked, seeing she was just staring at the can of whipped cream while grinning.

"Oh, um…nothing, just excited for the game today," Gabriella replied quickly still thinking about what caused her mind to wander.

"_Yes!" Gabriella cheered while sitting in her room on Thanksgiving watching the highlights from the NBA games from that day. A tapping on her balcony door slightly startled her. Quickly she got up and peered behind the curtains before opening the door. _

"_Troy, what are you doing here?" She whispered, walking over to lock her bedroom door in case someone else tried to walk in. "You do know my dad or Matt will kill you if they see you here." _

"_Maybe, but it's worth the risk to hang out with my new best friend," Troy replied cheekily. "Besides, I brought pumpkin pie," Troy said in a sing-song voice, "with whipped cream," he added grinning, holding open the plastic bag carrying the items. _

"_You didn't have to do that." _

"_Heck yeah I did. You went through an entire Thanksgiving dinner, and had no pumpkin pie…that's a shame, a crime! And, a problem I am here to remedy. Take a seat," Troy ordered, following her towards her bed. _

_Troy set the pie on her desk and cut a slice of pie, placing it on a plate in front of her. _

"_Wow, this is amazing!" Gabriella exclaimed as she took a bite of pumpkin pie. "Where'd you buy it?" _

"_Buy it!?" Troy exclaimed incredulously. "Montez, I baked that myself." _

"_No way! You bake?" _

"_Sometimes."_

"_Well, I am impressed," she said before taking another bite. "It's really good." _

"_Whoa, hold up!" Gabriella stopped mid-bite and sent Troy a curious look. "You forgot to put whipped cream on there. That's the best part." _

_Troy pulled the top off the whipped cream and tilted it towards Gabriella's plate. When none came out, he shook the can, and tilted it again pinching the top of the can. _

"_What the heck?" Troy furiously shook the can, trying again to no avail. _

"_Troy, it's fine," Gabriella giggled seeing his frustration. _

"_No-it's-gonna-work," Troy said, hitting the side of the can after each word, "just-you-wait." Troy stopped, his jaw dropping as the whipped cream sprayed out all over Gabriella. _

"_Oh crap! Gabriella, I'm so sorry." Troy quickly put the can of whipped cream down and picked up a napkin wiping off her arms and handing over the napkin so she could wipe off her shirt. _

"_Thank you," Gabriella wiped off her shirt and reached over to grab the whipped cream. _

"_Yeah, it's probably better if you do it this ti-," Troy stopped talking as a stream of whipped cream hit him in the face. "Time." Troy finished, wiping his face with the back of his hand. _

_Gabriella struggled to suppress the fits of laughter threatening to come out. _

"_Oh, it's on now Montez." Troy threatened before he took some pumpkin pie on his fingertips and a little whipped cream and smeared it all over her face. _

"_Ugh!" Gabriella yelped before taking her plate of pumpkin pie and shoving it in Troy's face. _

_Troy grabbed a napkin, wiping off his eyes before spraying a pile of whipped cream onto an extra paper plate and shoving it in Gabriella's face. _

"_I told you it was on Montez," Troy taunted while still rubbing the plate on her face. "Truce?" _

"_Fine! Truce!" Gabriella yelled out. Troy grinned and grabbed a napkin, handing it over to her. _

"_Thanks." _

_Troy smiled cheekily. "No problem Montez." _

_Gabriella giggled and chucked the napkin at him. Seeing she still had a little on her nose, Troy took the napkin, gently placing his hand on her chin before dabbing it off. _

"_Well, since we didn't finish the last piece, care for another slice?" _

"_Definitely." Troy smiled and got up, cutting them each another slice and putting the whipped cream on with no issues this time before the two settled down to watch the game on ESPN. _

_----_

Troy woke up around 10:00 in the morning on Saturday and walked into his baby sister's room hearing her stirring.

"Hi princess," Troy greeted, picking her up and placing her on his shoulder in a gentle hug. He pulled her back to look at her face, "You want to go downstairs?"

Troy quickly changed her diaper and changed her clothes before walking downstairs to get some breakfast.

"Hey mom!" Troy greeted as he walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning," Lucille replied holding out her arms to take Amy, "thanks for bringing her down. I fed her this morning, but then she went back to sleep."

"No problem. Where's dad?"

"He went to the store for a little bit, and Nathan went to see Jessica; they'll both meet you over at the gym today at 1:30 they said. What time's your game?"

"Game starts at 2:00, but I think I'm gonna head over there in a little bit to watch some of the earlier games," Troy admitted partially telling the truth. Part of the reason was to watch the games, but his real reason was that he wanted to see Gabriella.

"Alright, well, Amy and I will meet you there then. What do you want for breakfast?" Lucille asked while she placed Amy in her chair.

"Don't worry about it mom. I'll make myself some eggs; you go relax," Troy suggested while he grabbed a pan from the cupboard and some eggs from the fridge. Lucille smiled thankfully before going into the living room to sit down for awhile.

-----

After breakfast, Troy showered and grabbed his basketball gear, and took off to the community gym. He got there around 11:30, in time to see the Montez family warming up.

Gabriella spotted Troy out of the corner of her eye, and smiled at him before sinking a three pointer.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back. I am going to go to the bathroom real quick," Gabriella said before walking towards the hallway.

As she rounded the corner, Troy reached out and grabbed her arm, gently pulling her to lean against the wall beside him.

"Hi," Gabriella said, smiling brightly.

"Hey," Troy grinned, "nice shooting."

"Thanks. Your game is the last one today, right?"

"Yep. You gonna stick around?"

"I think I will," Troy felt a smile form on his face as they talked. "You know…I gotta do some scouting, since we're playing three hot-headed guys next week."

"Hey!" Troy exclaimed in mock hurt. Gabriella giggled when he gently nudged her arm with his elbow.

"Well anyways," Troy began, "I better let you get back to warm ups, but what time are you heading back to U of A?"

"Um, I think I'm going to take off around 6:00 after dinner."

"Sweet! You want to meet up at the coffee shop around 8:00?" Troy asked hopefully.

"Definitely," Gabriella replied. "Okay, I have to get back, otherwise they may come looking for me."

"Yeah. Good luck!" Troy said, pulling her into a hug, something the two had grown accustomed to in the past week.

"Thanks Troy. You too…I'll try to stick around after your game, but if not, I'll see you at 8:00. Bye."

"Bye!"

-----

"Gabriella Montez for two! Montez team leads by ten," the announcer said.

Troy looked up and saw that there were five minutes left in the game. His dad and Nathan hadn't shown up yet, and Troy was glad for that. As much as he loved to play basketball, right now he wanted to watch Gabriella play. He had never been so enthralled, watching a girl play basketball. He kept smiling as he watched her weave her way past defenders, and shoot that beautiful jump shot of hers.

"Gabriella steals the ball—she passes it to Matt—Matt passes it back to Gabriella—and the three pointer is good!"

Troy smiled and discreetly clapped his hands. This was the most difficult part for him. He wanted to stand up and cheer for her, but he knew it would get back to his dad. And that was something he didn't even want to think about. Even though their friendship was new, Troy couldn't deny the importance of it to them.

"And that's the game. The Montez team starts off right winning their first game. Great match-up next week folks between the Montez team and the Bolton team. Stick around if you can, because the next game between the Bolton team and the Martinez team is coming up next at 2:00."

Troy kept his eyes on Gabriella while she walked around the court shaking hands with the opponents and the referees before hugging Matt and her dad. She looked up at him, and after he checked to make sure no one was paying attention, he gave her a thumbs-up and a wink, waving as he walked down the steps to go find his family.

Gabriella walked out of the locker room, after having showered and changed into jeans and a t-shirt. She saw her family sitting in the hallway outside the gym.

"Gabi!" Ethan exclaimed. He took off running towards her as fast as his little legs could carry him.

Gabriella smiled and kneeled down with open arms as he ran into them wrapping his little arms around her neck. She wrapped hers around his waist and stood up, hugging him tightly.

"You give the best hugs, little buddy," she praised him. Ethan giggled and hugged her more tightly causing Gabriella to beam as they walked over to her parents and Matt.

"Good game sweetie!" Anna gave her a hug on the side, smiling as Ethan was now playing with his big sister's hair.

"Thanks. Hey guys, I'm gonna stick around for awhile, and watch the next game," Gabriella began, stopping when she saw her family all grin knowingly. "What?"

"Michael plays next. We know you're staying to watch him beat the enemy. Don't let us stop you." Carlos hugged his daughter in approval.

"Here sweetie, let me take Ethan." Anna rubbed her son's back and held out her arms to him.

"No! I wanna stay with Gabi!" Ethan protested, hugging Gabriella more tightly.

"Mom, Dad, it's okay," she told them. "Ethan will stay here with me and watch basketball, right bud?" Ethan beamed while clapping his hands. "We'll be home around 4:00."

"Okay. Ethan, tell Gabi thank you," Anna said.

"Thank you Gabi!" Ethan sloppily kissed her cheek. Gabriella's heart melted at her little brother, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek as well. Ethan grinned and began to play with her necklace.

"Alright, we'll see you back at home then." Carlos grabbed his bag, put his arm around Anna's shoulder and exited the gym.

"Good game Gabs." Matt reached over and gave her a hug. "See you two at home," Matt finished, giving Ethan a high-five before exiting the gym.

"You ready for some basketball?" Gabriella asked excitedly.

"Yep!" Ethan replied, as the two headed into the gym. Gabriella sat a few rows up, and Ethan crawled into her lap, snuggling into her body, while she gently rubbed his back.

Her eyes scanned the court and finally stopped on Troy, an uncontrollable grin erupting on her face. She couldn't help but stare at him, admiring everything about him. Just then, Michael noticed her sitting in the bleachers, and ran towards her.

"Gabi!" he called out when he got closer. "Come to watch me kick Bolton's butt huh?" Michael asked cockily not noticing Gabriella shudder when he called her 'Gabi'.

"Uh, hey Michael. Yeah, well I relish in seeing the Boltons lose any day," she managed to say, trying to keep up the façade.

"Alright, well, I got to get back to the warm-up, but maybe we can go catch a bite afterwards?"

"Um, no thanks. I have to take Ethan home and have dinner with my family tonight. Good luck though with the game," she cringed, definitely not wanting to talk with him nor wish him luck against Troy.

Michael smirked and ran back down to the court, passing by Troy and roughly bumping his shoulder while Troy had leaned down to pick up a basketball. Troy stood up and carelessly threw the ball over his shoulder, knowing Michael was right behind him. The ball hit him in the back of the head, and Troy laughed to himself while smiling up at Gabriella.

"Gabi, who's that?" Ethan pointed towards Troy.

"That's Troy."

"I like him better than Michael. Is he your boyfriend?" Gabriella laughed.

"No Ethan, he's just my friend."

Troy smiled when Gabriella gave him a thumbs-up, before heading back over to the bench since the game was starting.

---

It was nearing the end of the game and Gabriella watched intently, keeping her eyes on Troy as he spun around Michael, and drove in for a lay-up. She wanted to stand up and clap, but she knew that could cause problems.

"Yay!" Ethan yelled out for her clapping his hands together.

Gabriella smiled and hugged Ethan closer, as she continued to focus on Troy.

"And that's the game," the announcer declared as the buzzer rang, "Bolton family 50—Martinez family 35."

Troy walked around the court shaking hands with the referees, and congratulating his dad and brother. Lucille came down holding Amy, and Troy gave his mom a hug, and kissed his sister on the cheek.

Amy began to whimper, and Lucille shifted her in her arms.

"Hey mom, here, I'll take her," Troy said before he gently took Amy into his arms. "I'm going to go grab a drink, I'll meet you guys at home."

"You'll take Amy?" Lucille asked.

"Yeah, just put her car seat outside my car. We'll be home by 4:00."

"Thanks son," Jack called out as he clapped him on the back.

Troy nodded before walking out into the hallway. His eyes landed on Gabriella who was sitting on a bench, her little brother in her lap.

"Hey," Troy greeted, grinning when her eyes met his.

"Nice game," Gabriella smiled holding up her hand to give him a high-five.

"Thanks, you too."

"You beat Michael," Ethan said proudly.

"Yeah, we did buddy. What's your name?"

"Ethan," he replied as he shyly buried his head in Gabriella's chest.

"Well Ethan, I'm Troy," he replied sitting down next to Gabriella and holding out his hand.

Ethan put his small hand into Troy's and gently shook it bringing a shy smile to his face. "Who's that?" Ethan questioned, standing on the bench next to Gabriella, his eyes focused on the little girl in Troy's arms.

"This is my sister, Amy."

Gabriella smiled as she saw Troy proudly look at his baby sister before kissing her head.

"She's adorable," Gabriella spoke up. Troy felt the smile on his face grow.

"Thanks. Yeah, she is."

"Hey, would you mind holding her real quick, while I run in and change?" Troy asked.

"Sure, I guess."

"Thanks so much! I'll be no more than ten minutes, I promise." Troy gently placed Amy in Gabriella's arms, both of them blushing at the contact their arms made with each other.

Ethan and Gabriella smiled at Amy and entertained her for a few minutes, until Troy came back out, showered and changed.

"Thank you so much," Troy said as he picked Amy back up, cradling her in his arms. "You parked out front?"

"Yep"

"Cool, I'll walk with you."

Gabriella smiled taking Ethan's hand in hers as she started walking. Ethan smiled and grabbed Troy's empty hand while Troy held Amy in the other. Troy was shocked at first but smiled at how quickly Ethan had warmed up to him.

When they reached Gabriella's car, Ethan gave Troy a high-five before climbing into his seat.

"I'll see you tonight?" Troy asked reminding her that they were going to meet up at the coffee house.

"I'll be there. See you tonight."

"Later," Troy said before he courageously leaned down and kissed Gabriella on the cheek, while hugging her slightly, Amy still in his arms. Both of them blushed, and Troy turned to walk towards his car. Gabriella reached up and softly touched her cheek, oblivious to Ethan who smiled happily inside the car.

-----

Gabriella quickly grabbed her jacket, before heading out the door of her dorm room. She left a note for Sharpay saying she would be back later before she rushed out the dorm towards the coffee shop.

She grabbed a table outside, and sat down to wait for Troy. Growing impatient, she glanced at the time, unable to hide her frown when she noticed it was 8:05. Gabriella looked around nervously wondering if maybe she had missed him inside.

"Sorry I'm late," Troy's voice called out from behind causing Gabriella to jump a bit.

"What is your obsession with scaring the crap out of me?" Gabriella grinned and got up to give him a hug.

"It's fun. What can I say?" Troy laughed as the two separated and he took a seat.

"So, great game today," Gabriella began. "I must say, I loved watching you pound on the Martinez family, especially Michael."

"Yeah, it felt good to beat those guys. Great job in your game too! Montez, I knew you were good, but dang! You have gotten like fifty times better since we played in the tourney last year."

"Thanks. I guess that's where college level play comes in handy."

"Definitely. Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Hmm…I'm so confused as to what we've been doing so far," Gabriella replied cheekily.

"Ouch. You cut me deep Montez," Troy smiled back. "But seriously, is there something between you and Michael? I saw you two talking. I thought you said you didn't really like him?"

"Eww, me and Michael? No way! That would never ever happen. Eww, I definitely don't like him at all. He came over trying to ask me out tonight, and I said 'heck no'."

"Persistent jerk," Troy said, laughing at how adamant she was about her lack of feelings for Michael. "That guy gets on my nerves."

"Seriously, same here. I hate that my parents are encouraging it."

"Yeah, well hey…I don't want to depress us both. So change of subject. I am excited to be back cause now we can hang out without having to worry about our families," Troy told her grinning.

"I know. It sucks that we can't hang out more at home. I mean we are neighbors. We could be shooting hoops in the backyard more often."

"Yeah, it would improve your game to play some one-on-one with me," Troy smirked. Gabriella's jaw dropped, pretending to be offended, before she smacked him on the arm.

"Egotistical much?" She asked amusedly.

Troy chuckled as the two fell into easy conversation, discussing everything from classes to basketball to their favorite sports teams. They each seemingly had smiles painted on their faces, talking for hours like they'd been friends for years, despite their friendship only starting up a week earlier.

The two were brought out of their conversation when they saw the lights turn off inside.

"Crap, it's almost 12:30, I better let you get back," Troy admitted reluctantly before he scooted his chair back, standing up.

"Yeah, I hate 8:00 AM classes."

"Hey, a few questions," Troy began nervously.

"Go for it."

"Okay, first, you want to grab lunch tomorrow?"

"Sure, what time? I have class until 11:00, and then practice at 3:00."

"How about I meet you at the plaza café at 11:15?"

"Perfect," Gabriella grinned.

"Okay. Second, Chad and I are having a hang-out thing on Thursday night. You and Sharpay wanna come?"

"Hang-out on Thursday, huh?" Gabriella asked curiously. "A party?"

"Well, not a party really. Just a few of us hanging out, watching movies. We won't be drinking or anything because I don't drink."

"You don't drink?!" Troy shook his head. "Wow."

"What?" Troy asked, a grin tugging at his lips in amusement.

"Oh, um, I just thought..." Gabriella continued nervously, her eyes shifting to her feet.

"Go ahead. You won't offend me," Troy encouraged.

"It's just really rare for a top college athlete to not go out and drink." Gabriella told him, still nervous as to what he would think.

"You're right, it is rare," Troy smiled at her, assuring her he wasn't angry. "In my view, I want to stay in top shape for basketball. I mean, I worked hard for my scholarship and I don't want anything screwing up my chances."

Gabriella admired Troy as he talked so passionately about the game he loves realizing that she was gaining so much more respect for him hearing his response.

"I agree," Gabriella grinned shyly. Troy returned her smile and the two stared at each other for a few moments before Gabriella softly cleared her throat. "So, the hang out on Thursday sounds awesome. I'll meet you there at 7:30?"

"Definitely," Troy exclaimed. "And finally, would you like me to bring you some kind of gift to appease your loss this upcoming Saturday?"

"Oh, it's on now Bolton." Gabriella shoved him gently on his shoulder.

"Kidding! Kidding!" Troy chuckled, his hands raised in defense. "Actually I was going to ask if I can walk you back to your room?"

"Sure," Gabriella agreed, trying to ignore the butterflies that erupted in her stomach hearing his words.

Troy and Gabriella began their trek back towards the freshmen dorms, their arms slightly brushing every so often causing the two to blush.

"So, thanks for walking me back Troy." Gabriella leaned against the wall by her door, smiling up at Troy.

Troy grinned back. "My pleasure."

"Well, I better get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, 11: 15. Goodnight Gabi," Troy said before he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"Night Troy," she returned as her cheeks turned a shade of pink, before gently closing her door not even caring about the enormous smile on her face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Deoxyribonucleic acid, better known as DNA, is a nucleic acid consisting of two strands of polymers made up of nucleotides with a backbone of sugars and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds."

The monotone voice of her professor was enough to put Gabriella to sleep. It didn't help that the clock didn't seem to be moving, nor did it help that the lights were dimmed, the light from the power point being the only source illuminating the room.

"DNA stores genetic information. The segments carrying this information are known as genes."

Fighting off the sense of apathy threatening to overwhelm her, Gabriella copied down the notes on the screen before letting her eyes wander back to the clock. Normally she struggled to pay attention in her Principles of Biology class. It wasn't that she hated biology, but it was just her luck to get one of the most boring professors in the history of teaching.

She knew from day one that this class would become one of her least favorites. Everyday like clockwork at 9:28, Mr. Richards would walk in, his brown briefcase in one hand, and his mug of coffee in the other. After setting his items on the desk, he would pull up the rolling chair to the side of it, and pull down the projector screen before turning on the projector, sitting down, and beginning the lecture. Dressed in the same boring grey suit with a red bow tie as always, Gabriella found herself wondering if he owned multiple suits or just wore the same one every day, the thought of the latter making her cringe slightly.

Clearing his throat in a very annoying way, something he did as many as a hundred times during one lecture Gabriella recalled…yes, she counted…Mr. Richards took a sip of his coffee before changing the slide.

"As discussed earlier, there are two polymer strands. These strands run anti-parallel to each other. Attached to their sugar backbone is one of four bases."

After jotting down the four bases, Gabriella let her eyes stray once more to the clock. 10:59. One minute left to freedom. A grin tugged at her lips at the realization that in sixteen minutes she would be sitting at lunch with Troy.

Her thoughts traveled back to the night before as she remembered the way it felt when his lips grazed her cheek. She could feel face blushing at just the memory. The way it felt when he gently placed his hand on her arm. How his thumb softly brushed the skin there while his soft lips barely made contact with her cheek.

She knew she had it bad at this point. Every detail was so vivid in her memory, and she'd been replaying the moment ever since Troy had left.

The sounds of chairs scratching against the floor brought her out of her thoughts. Gabriella let her eyes focus on the clock and breathed a sigh of relief seeing it read 11:00. Quickly springing up from her seat and tossing her bag over her shoulder, Gabriella followed the rush of students out to the hallway.

Ten minutes later she pushed open the door to the Plaza café, immediately being hit with the smell of grilled hamburgers and sandwiches. Realizing she was a few minutes early and Troy was probably not there, Gabriella made her way over to get a cup of water.

"So how was class?"

Gabriella tilted her head to the side, a grin appearing when she saw Troy leaning against the counter, wearing red Nike shorts and a white t-shirt, his brown hair slightly spiked up.

"Boring as usual." Gabriella told him, placing a lid on her cup and picking up a straw. "How about you?"

"Eh, how exciting can Intro to Western Civilization be?"

Gabriella giggled. "Well, I guess a history major might find it exciting."

"Probably so." Troy shrugged. "Ready to eat?"

"Yeah, I'm starving."

Troy smiled and led her over towards the counter, both of them ordering a sandwich and a smoothie before grabbing a table in the corner of the room. After Gabriella sat down, Troy pulled out his chair and took a seat across from her, the two immediately diving in to eat their lunch.

"So class was boring, huh?" Troy asked, starting up their conversation again.

"Yeah, as always. I can't ever seem to completely focus in that class. I was so tempted to fall asleep today," she admitted, earning a chuckle from Troy.

"Who's your professor?"

"Dr. Richards."

"The guy who wears the same suit everyday?"

Gabriella giggled. "You think it's the same suit? Or do you think he owns multiples of the same suit?"

"Same suit," Troy answered confidently. "I know this because he has a certain odor about him that means either it's the same suit or he doesn't wear deodorant."

"Or maybe both," Gabriella added, causing them both to erupt in laughter, oblivious to the students around them who were watching them in amusement.

"Wait, how do you know Dr. Richards?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"I have him for a class," Troy informed her, enjoying the subsequent confused look on her face.

"What class?"

"Basics of Biology," Troy grinned.

"Really?" Gabriella asked in disbelief.

"Really Montez," Troy grinned. "Just because I'm not some genius Biology major doesn't mean I don't take biology."

"I didn't mean it like that, it's just," Gabriella paused trying to think of how to phrase what she wanted to say.

"You just think because I'm a Bolton, I'm not smart enough for biology classes?" Troy supplied.

"Shut up Troy," Gabriella scolded playfully, picking up the balled up napkin next to her and tossing it at Troy.

Troy laughed while dodging the napkin before sending her an amused look. "I guess I'd better watch it. I had heard the Montez clan got a little violent. I guess those rumors are true," Troy commented reaching for the napkin. "See? Dangerous weapons," Troy said sarcastically, grinning as he held up the napkin in his hand.

"You're unbelievable," Gabriella muttered in amusement, grabbing her cup and plate. "I think I'm going to go sit where I'm appreciated."

Gabriella pretended to gather her things before standing up, only to have Troy reach out and grab her arm, gently tugging her back to her seat. "Sit down, sit down. Come on, I promise to be good."

Gabriella looked at Troy to see him grinning innocently back at her, like a child who was attempting to coerce his mom to give him a cookie before dinner.

"Fine, one condition though."

"What's that?" Troy grinned, thoroughly enjoying their conversation.

"You're buying lunch tomorrow."

----

Gabriella walked into her room Thursday night at 7:00, having just finished practice, still dressed in her red basketball shorts and white practice jersey.

Hearing some noise in the bathroom, she walked towards it to see Sharpay, all dressed in sparkles and pink as usual, busily putting on some eyeliner in the mirror.

"I will never understand how you actually can do that," Gabriella said, making Sharpay aware of her presence.

"Oh hey Gabi," Sharpay replied, her eyes remaining on the mirror. "And like I told you before, it's easy. You just drag the pencil lightly across your eyelid."

"And that doesn't bother you?" Gabriella asked incredulously, leaning against the bathroom doorway.

"Why would it?"

"Because, you have a sharp object that you're putting mere centimeters away from your open eye."

"Well you don't poke your eye with it Gabi. It's relatively safe," Sharpay informed her sarcastically, switching to put the eyeliner on the opposite eye.

"It's stupid is what it is."

"It's genius," Sharpay argued back, smiling as she finished before placing the pencil back in her giant silver and pink makeup box.

"You ready?"

Sharpay looked away from herself to glance at Gabriella, a shocked look on her face. "Seriously? Gabi, I'm going to see Zeke, and I need to look my best."

"Zeke doesn't care, Shar, and you know it."

"Well, I care," Sharpay told her before searching through her makeup box.

"How much longer will you be?" Gabriella asked, as she stepped towards her dresser to pull out some clothes.

"Well I still have mascara, eye shadow, lip gloss," Sharpay began to run through her list, stopping as Gabriella interrupted.

"So not even close?"

Sharpay nodded, continuing to open and close drawers from her makeup box.

"Well it's 7:00, and I need to shower before we go…"

"Yeah you do," Sharpay interrupted, scrunching up her nose before grinning.

"Anyways," Gabriella said, attempting to ignore her comment. "Can you put all that junk on your face in the room, so I can get in here?"

"It's not junk," Sharpay scoffed, while latching the box before lifting it up off the counter. "This is high quality, top of the line make up."

"I'm sure it is, Shar," Gabriella appeased, stepping past her to turn on the shower. "Thanks. I'll be out in five minutes."

Gabriella shut the door and quickly hopped into the shower before changing into a pair of jeans and a simple black t-shirt, with her white Redhawks sweatshirt slipped on over it.

"Ready now?" Gabriella asked Sharpay, emerging from the bathroom to see her sitting on her bed, absentmindedly flipping through one of her latest gossip magazines.

"Yep," Sharpay exclaimed, shutting the magazine and standing up off the bed. "You sure you don't want me to put a little makeup on you for your crush?"

"First off, Troy is not my crush," Gabriella attempted to deny, knowing she was failing miserably due to the blush on her cheeks.

"Sure he isn't," Sharpay smirked.

"And secondly, touch me with that makeup, and it may not be around tomorrow morning."

"Testy, testy," Sharpay muttered, following Gabriella out of the room. "Now let's go. I haven't seen my Zeke all day, and I'm dying to run up to him and-,"

"Please, do not finish that sentence," Gabriella pleaded, making sure the door was locked before leading a very giddy Sharpay down the hall.

---

Troy sat on the couch in his dorm room, glancing nervously at the clock, not paying attention to Zeke and Chad who were battling it out on Mario Kart next to him. It was almost 7:30 and he knew Gabriella would be there any minute. He couldn't remember the last time he was so nervous to be around a girl.

"Dude, you guys aren't even dating and you're already whipped."

Troy turned to glare at Chad whose eyes were still glued to the TV.

"Shut up man, I'm not whipped. I was just looking to see what time it was."

"Yeah, you've been staring at it for the past five minutes," Chad chimed back.

"Staring at it won't make it go any faster," Zeke added, whooping and throwing his fist in the air as he won. "Dude, how do you suck at this game so much if this is all you do all day?"

Chad punched Zeke in his arm, glaring at him. "I demand a rematch."

"For the fifth time," Troy muttered under his breath.

"Shut up Romeo," Chad told him, grinning as there was a light knock at the door. "Your girl's here."

"Shut it Chad," Troy hissed under his breath, standing up and glancing at himself in the mirror.

"Dude, your make up is fine, you just checked it two minutes ago," Chad laughed, turning his attention back to the game, yelling as a pillow collided with his head.

Troy straightened his shirt and took a deep breath before opening the door, a smile automatically making its way to his face as his eyes met Gabriella's.

"Hey, right on time," Troy greeted.

"You would know," Chad yelled out, not seeing Troy's death glare sent his way.

Gabriella giggled softly at the two, smiling as Troy turned back around and grinned at her as if nothing happened.

"Anyways, thanks for coming."

"Thanks for the invitation."

"Oh geez. Can I get by to see my boyfriend while you two nervously flirt in the doorway?" Sharpay sighed, pushing past Troy and Gabriella and running straight over to jump on Zeke's lap.

"Nice to see you again too, Sharpay," Troy mumbled sarcastically.

"Hey Troy, are you going to invite her in or make her stand outside our room all night?"

Troy turned to glare at Chad once more, rolling his eyes as he looked back at the girl who was watching him amusedly. "Sorry, come on in."

Stepping aside, Troy motioned with his hand for her to come in, placing his hand gently on the middle of her back after shutting the door and then gently guiding her over towards the couch where the guys and Sharpay were sitting.

"Okay, I assume you know Zeke," Troy began, watching as Zeke paused the game and waved at Gabriella, shifting Sharpay who was still on his lap. "And this is Chad, my annoying roommate."

"Always dishing out the compliments buddy," Chad added with a grin before standing up from his seat and extending his hand towards Gabriella and shaking hers gently. "Glad you could make it. This guy has been cleaning like a maid all day making sure everything was perfect for you," Chad told her, cocking his head towards Troy who was staring at him and mouthing for him to shut up. "Been annoying the crap out of me too."

Before Chad could say anything more he found himself falling backwards towards the couch, looking up to see a smirking Troy looking right back.

"Ignore him," Troy told Gabriella, placing his hand on her back and leading her over towards his bed. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure, what do you have?"

Troy crossed the room towards the mini-fridge in the corner, peering inside. "We have Sprite, Root Beer, Vitamin Water, water, and Yoohoo."

"Yoohoo?" Gabriella questioned amusedly.

"Ten bucks if you can guess who those belong to," Troy joked.

"Laugh all you want, but we both know you drank half of that pack of Yoohoo that I bought yesterday," Chad yelled back.

"I'll take a Vitamin Water," Gabriella said through her laughter, enjoying the banter between Troy and Chad.

"Vitamin Water it is. Sharpay, Zeke? You two want something?"

"Two Sprites," Zeke said.

"Got it," Troy said, grabbing two out and tossing them to Zeke before grabbing out a water for himself and a Vitamin Water for Gabriella.

"Thanks for offering something to your roommate Troy," Chad muttered to him sarcastically.

Rolling his eyes, Troy opened the fridge back up, grabbing out a Yoohoo and tossing it into Chad's lap. "Thanks man!"

Troy shook his head, smiling as he walked back over to Gabriella, handing her a drink before sitting next to her.

"So how was practice today?" Troy asked, setting a pillow behind him and scooting back to sit against the wall, placing another one there for Gabriella as well. She smiled at the gesture before scooting back to be next to him, mere inches separating their shoulders.

"Not too bad. My shot was kind of off though, which was frustrating. I couldn't make a three to save my life."

"It's that Montez blood in you. Boltons are three-point experts," Troy taunted with a cocky smirk.

"Shut up Bolton," Gabriella mumbled, playfully bumping his shoulder with hers, feeling shock waves go through her body as they returned to their spots leaning against the wall, but this time with his shoulder resting against hers.

Gabriella shyly looked over at Troy, whose blue eyes were staring right back at her, the two forgetting for a moment that the others were in the room.

"So are you two going to sit there and flirt all night, or are we going to watch a movie?" Sharpay asked, bringing the two out of their daze.

"Eh, they're probably going to flirt all night and then you and Zeke will be all over each other, which leaves me all alone. How the heck did I end up being the fifth wheel here?" Chad whined, leaning back against the couch with a sigh.

"I can go find you a girl if you want," Troy offered. "I hear the crazy bird girl down the hall is looking for a boyfriend."

"Shut up Romeo and go back to your flirting," Chad countered, his comment causing the two on Troy's bed to blush.

Troy cleared his throat, taking his eyes off of Gabriella. "Okay, so movie….which one does everyone want to watch?"

"The Notebook!" Sharpay squealed, clapping her hands, Troy and Gabriella rolling their eyes in response.

"Heck no blondie! We don't have that movie and there's no way we're watching it," Chad protested.

"It's not that long of a walk to my room Danforth. Zeke will go get it for me, won't you Zeke?" Sharpay finished, turning to look at Zeke with her lip jetted out in a well rehearsed pout.

"Of course babe," Zeke replied, glaring at Troy when he coughed out 'whipped' under his breath.

"See?" Sharpay asked with a triumphant grin, getting into a staredown with Chad.

"He may go get it for you, but this is my room and we won't be watching the freakin Notebook! Pick something else," Chad told her, a winning smirk now making its way to his face. "Something we already have," Chad added.

"Gabriella, do you have a preference?" Troy asked, in attempts to break up the disagreement.

"What do you guys have?"

"The movies are in that top drawer, and then some on the shelf there. Go ahead and go pick."

The phone rang and Chad quickly jumped up off the couch running to answer it. "Pizza's here," he whooped before darting out the door.

"Don't eat it all before you get back!" Troy yelled out. "He really will eat it all," he added, turning back to Gabriella.

Scooting to the edge of the bed, Gabriella made her way over to pick out a movie, soon joined by Troy. After a few minutes of deliberating, the group was sitting in the room, lights dimmed and pizza in hand.

As the movie went on, Troy and Gabriella found themselves inching closer together, their shoulders resting against each other, eyes focused on the screen. Gabriella felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart race as she felt Troy barely lay his hand on top of hers, loosely hooking his pinky with hers.

She knew it was wrong, and that her family would be livid with her if they found out where she was and what she was doing at that moment, but for some reason, Gabriella realized she didn't care at all as she allowed her head to drop to Troy's strong shoulder. A smile made its way onto Troy's face as he felt her snuggle into his side, wanting nothing more than to kiss the top of her head and wrap his arm around her, but decided not to push it and instead be content with the new progress.

When the movie finished a little while later, Troy felt Gabriella's head still heavy on his shoulder, her steady, even breathing giving him the hint that she'd fallen asleep. As Chad got up to turn off the movie, he flicked on his desk lamp causing Sharpay and Zeke to also stir. As the three pairs of eyes shifted over to him and Gabriella, Troy felt his face grow hot. Zeke smiled knowingly and gave him a nod of approval, Sharpay looked like she was holding back a loud squeal, and Chad of course smirked at Troy while pretending to crack a whip.

Rolling his eyes at Chad, Troy turned to Gabriella, nudging her gently and leaning down to whisper in her ear, "Gabriella, movie's over."

Troy couldn't help but think it was the cutest thing he'd seen as she let out a small moan of protest before letting her head drop down more so she was laying across his lap, cradled in his arms.

Troy looked up at Sharpay who was now standing up with her eyebrows raised at him, moving to get her jacket on and head back to the room.

"I tried," Troy shrugged, unable to resist the temptation to bring his hand up and place it on her waist.

"Well Zeke is going to walk me back," Sharpay told him, as Zeke placed his arm around her shoulders. "Want to walk her back in a little bit once you wake her up?"

"Sure no problem," Troy agreed, excited at the prospect of being able to spend even more time alone with her.

"I'm gonna walk that way with you guys," Chad said, getting up as well. "I need some food from the café."

"You're still hungry? You ate almost a whole pizza!" Sharpay pointed out, slightly disgusted.

"Of course I'm still hungry. I need a bedtime snack. I'm just going to go grab a cheeseburger or something. Want anything Troy?"

Troy glanced up momentarily from where his eyes were focused on the girl in his arms to shake his head before returning his attention to her.

"Alright man. I'll be back in a bit. Enjoy the rest of your date," Chad joked, earning a glare from Troy before he ducked out of the room following Zeke and Sharpay who had waved goodbye.

As the door closed, Gabriella shifted a bit, letting out a content sigh causing Troy to bring his hand to rub gently up and down her back. Looking at her, Troy couldn't believe that his family would hate this girl so much. And even more, Troy couldn't believe he'd let all this time slip by without getting to know her better.

Knowing she had class in the morning and that it was getting late, Troy finally decided he should start gently waking her up. Bringing his free hand up, Troy pushed some hair gently from her forehead.

"Gabriella," he whispered, lightly rubbing her sides as well. "Montez, time to wake up."

Troy smiled as she stretched her body a bit, letting out a small moan before her eyes fluttered open, connecting with his. She stared up at him for a few seconds before her eyes widened as she realized what position the two of them were in.

Quickly she sat up, running her hand through her hair as she hoped she looked presentable, apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep on you. I probably made you so uncomfortable. I'm really sorry Troy."

"Don't be," Troy interrupted, grinning at how adorable she looked as she rambled on. "Really, it was no problem."

"I'm so embarrassed," Gabriella sighed, bringing her hand up to cover her face before looking at the other side of the room, suddenly realizing they were alone. "Where is everyone?"

"Zeke just walked Sharpay back to your room, and Chad went to get some food," Troy informed her, the latter news making Gabriella laugh. "I told them I'd walk you back to your room once you woke up. I would have let you sleep longer, but I figured you have class in the morning."

Gabriella groaned and looked over at the clock, seeing it was past 10:00. "Yeah, I should get back since I have a class in the morning," Gabriella admitted, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed, her eyes shifting to Troy as he edged next to her. "I'm really sorry I fell asleep on you. You should have just woke me up."

"And missed you talking in your sleep? Never!"

Gabriella's face reddened in embarrassment. "I didn't! No, how embarrassing! What did I say?"

Troy smiled at her reaction, deciding to milk it a bit. "Just that I am the hottest guy you've ever seen and that my hotness is going to distract you when we play against each other in the tournament this weekend."

For a second, Gabriella felt like crawling into a hole and dying from embarrassment, but as she saw the look on Troy's face, she knew he was just joking.

"You jerk!" Gabriella playfully shoved him in the shoulder, smiling as he started laughing. "So arrogant too Bolton. You better not get too cocky there."

"Whatever Montez," Troy said, standing up and holding out his hand to her. "Ready to go?"

"Sure," she replied timidly, placing her hand softly in his.

Smiling, Troy helped her up off his bed, making sure to grab his keys before opening the door, placing his hand on the small of her back and leading her out the door.

As the two walked back to the dorm, to anyone who didn't know them, they'd think the two had known each other for years and were extremely close by the way they were playfully nudging each other and joking back and forth as they chatted the whole way. No one would even think that the two of them mere weeks ago were essentially enemies, never talking as they silently participated in their families' feud.

But the truth was, their families' issues were the last things on their minds. Because as the two stopped outside of her room and Troy leaned down to place a lingering kiss on her cheek, the two couldn't think of anything but each other and their newly developing feelings. And for them, that was perfectly alright.

* * *

**AN: Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you thought. I'll try to get the updates out more quickly for you if my muse cooperates, but I can't promise anything. Thanks again!**


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot. The characters you recognize belong to the HSM franchise. _

**Chapter 5**

The community gym was nearly empty when Gabriella walked into it Saturday morning, one hand grasping Ethan's while the other grasped her gym bag. She had decided to get to the gym early that day for their game against the Boltons, mainly in attempts to escape the bashing of the Boltons she knew her dad and brother would be engaging in all morning.

From the second she got home Friday afternoon, all she'd heard was how much they hated the Boltons and Gabriella decided she couldn't take any more of it. Sure Jack and Nathan could be jerks at times with all of the rivalry and trash talking, but she thought there was no place for her family to bash all of them, including Troy, which is why she got up before everyone else and took Ethan with her to go warm up.

"Gabi, where is everyone?"

Gabriella smiled at her brother who was tugging on her hand, looking up at her adoringly. "They'll all be here soon."

"How come Daddy and Matty didn't come?"

"Because they're too busy saying mean things about the Boltons," Gabriella told him truthfully, ruffling his hair.

"Who are the Boltons?" Ethan asked innocently, causing Gabriella to grin.

"Remember Troy?" Ethan nodded enthusiastically. "That's his family."

"Oh, I 'member Troy. He's cool."

"He is," Gabriella agreed with a laugh before setting her bag down on the bleachers and pulling out a ball.

"Gabi?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like Troy?"

"Of course."

"How come Daddy and Matty don't like him?"

Gabriella paused, thinking of the right way to answer his question. "Because they're stupid."

"oooo, you said a bad word," Ethan teased, smiling a big toothy grin.

Gabriella stuck her tongue out at him playfully before picking him up in her arms. "I did. Shh, don't tell okay?"

"Okay," he nodded.

"And don't you say it alright? Promise?" Gabriella asked, tickling his sides.

"Okay, okay, I promise!" Ethan cried out, squirming in her arms.

"Good," Gabriella laughed before setting him down and ruffling his hair once more. "Alright, it's time for me to go warm up. Even though we like the Boltons, we still have to beat them today, right?"

"Right!" the youngster cheered before following his sister over to the basket, happily chasing down all of the rebounds.

As one rebound bounced over across the baseline and into the hallway, Gabriella watched as Ethan ran out to get it, a smile forming on her face as she saw him come back in the arms of her blue-eyed neighbor.

"Morning Gabi." Troy's shining eyes met hers as he walked through the doors, a basketball in one hand, and an upside down Ethan in the other.

"Hi Gabi!" Ethan giggled and waved, his face bright red as all the blood was rushing to it.

"Ethan, what are you doing?"

"Troy had the ball. He wouldn't give it back, and I tried to jump and get it, but he picked me up and flipped me upside down," Ethan explained hurriedly in one breath, wiggling in Troy's arms, unable to get out of his tight grip.

"Is that so?" Gabriella asked Ethan amusedly, shifting her eyes from Ethan's up to Troy's to see him shrugging and grinning at her innocently.

"Yes," Ethan giggled as Troy began to tickle his sides after tossing the ball to Gabriella. "Gabi, save me!"

Gabriella laughed at the two, smiling at Ethan who couldn't stop giggling, and stepped forward to help her little brother.

"You're going to try and stop me Montez?" Troy smiled, amused as he continued to tickle Ethan.

"She can," Ethan said through his laugher. "She's strong."

Troy smirked as his eyes connected with Gabriella's, daring her to step closer. "I don't think she can buddy. I think you're doomed to be tickled upside down forever."

"Nooo," Ethan laughed, wiggling in Troy's strong grip even more. "Help Gabi!"

Setting the basketball down, Gabriella quickly made her way closer to Troy and Ethan, her eyes never leaving Troy's as he continued to smirk at her, while daring her to step in.

"You know Ethan, I bet Troy here is ticklish too. So the best way to get back at him, is to beat him at his own game."

"Don't you dare," Troy warned, spinning around so Gabriella couldn't reach him. But Gabriella lunged at him quickly, her hands quickly attacking his sides.

"Give up Bolton? Say when," Gabriella teased, tickling him more as Troy held onto Ethan more tightly while he tried to get out of her grasp.

"Okay, when, when!" Troy finally succumbed, turning around to fully face Gabriella who was smiling widely in triumph. Shaking his head in amusement, Troy flipped Ethan around in his arms, letting him catch his breath for a few moments before setting him down. "Alright buddy, here you go."

"Whoa, whoooa…whoooooa," Ethan swayed side to side dramatically, before bumping into Gabriella's legs and wrapping his arms around her, smiling brightly up at her. "Thanks Gabi."

"No problem buddy. I gotta save you from any evil Boltons."

"But you said you liked Troy!" Ethan pointed out, his mouth quickly covered by Gabriella's hands as she blushed and looked away, not making eye contact with Troy who was thoroughly enjoying the slip up.

"Really now?" Troy asked, leaning down and to the side so he could catch Gabriella's eyes, smiling more as she looked up at him.

Gabriella's cheeks turned even more pink while she glanced down at Ethan, avoiding eye contact with Troy. "Ethan, why don't you stay here and play with Troy while I go get ready, okay?"

"Is he going to flip me upside down again?"

"No, he'll be nice," Gabriella assured him, ruffling his hair. "Right Troy?" She looked back at Troy, giving him a stern look, a playful glint behind her eyes.

"Of course," Troy grinned innocently, walking over to pick up the ball, "Come on Ethan."

"Thank you," Gabriella mouthed to him as Troy nodded and smiled back at her before passing the ball to Ethan. Walking over to grab her bag, Gabriella darted towards the locker room, not remembering the last time she'd been that embarrassed.

Troy watched Gabriella's retreating figure, his hopes rising as he saw her reaction to what Ethan had said earlier. Troy knew Ethan may have meant that she just liked him as a friend, but something about the way she reacted, tipped him off that it may be more than that. After seeing her leave, Troy glanced back at Ethan, who was holding the ball that was almost as big as him and tossing it up towards the basket, only to have it fall a few feet short.

Looking at him, Troy suddenly got an idea. What would it hurt to find out a bit more about Gabriella?

"Here buddy, let me help you," Troy offered, picking him up and placing him on his shoulder, allowing him to get a closer shot which went right in.

"Yay!" Ethan cheered, giving Troy a high-five as he set him down.

"So Ethan, when did Gabi say that she liked me?"

"Today when I asked her. She said Daddy and Matty don't like you though."

"Oh," Troy mumbled, Ethan's words revealing to him that Gabriella had just meant that she liked him as a friend.

"Gabi always smiles at you though, more than any other boy, except me," Ethan grinned, making Troy chuckle. He was really beginning to love this kid.

"Well of course she smiles at you the most," Troy agreed, picking Ethan up and swinging him onto his shoulders once more. "You're her number one guy. She needs you to protect her from all the evil boys out there."

"Like Michael?" Ethan asked, holding onto Troy's head to steady himself.

Troy laughed, handing him the ball. "Yeah, like Michael."

"I don't like Michael. I like you more Troy. Gabi's right, he's not nice. Daddy and Matty are wrong."

"Thanks little man," Troy chuckled, watching as the ball sailed through the hoop before setting him back down to the ground to go retrieve the ball.

Troy sighed, running his hand through his hair. He should have known. Hoping that a three, almost four year old would tell him what he wanted to know wasn't the greatest idea. He needed to be a man and talk to Gabriella himself.

"Gabi, I made two in a row!" Troy was brought out of his thoughts as Ethan excitedly told Gabriella what she missed. "Watch!"

Troy's eyes drifted over to Gabriella who was watching both him and Ethan curiously, his gaze dropping back down to Ethan as he felt a tap on his forearm. "Troy, can we do it again?"

"Sure buddy," Troy chuckled, hoisting him up onto his shoulders again and taking a few steps towards the basket, stopping as Ethan aimed and made his shot.

"Good job Ethan!" Gabriella praised, clapping as she ran over to Ethan, taking him from Troy who had leaned down so she could reach her brother easier.

"Do you think one day I can be on our team?"

"You sure can, Ethan," Gabriella told him as she set him down and gave him a high-five. "Then you'll know how good it feels to make a shot in Troy's face here."

"Hey!" Troy protested, his jaw dropping playfully. "Starting the trash talking a bit early, aren't we Montez?"

"It's never too early to make fun of you, Bolton," Gabriella quipped back.

"Ethan, I hope you're never as cruel as your older sister here."

"Hey!" Gabriella yelled, playfully shoving Troy who was chuckling, until his laughter came to a halt when he saw Ethan glaring at him with his hands on his hips.

"Gabi isn't cruel! She's the nicest person in the world."

Gabriella placed her arm around her little brother, fighting back her grin, raising her eyebrows at Troy before pulling Ethan into her side. "It's okay Ethan."

"Yeah little man, I'm sorry," Troy apologized, kneeling down in front of him. "Your sister isn't mean at all. I was just teasing her, okay?"

"Promise?" Ethan questioned, his face no longer buried in Gabriella's side as his big brown eyes looked up at Troy.

"I promise," Troy told him honestly, holding out his hand to shake Ethan's. "Friends still?"

Ethan smiled a toothy grin before launching himself at Troy and throwing his arms around his neck. "Yep!"

A few seconds later, Ethan had run over to get the basketball, leaving Gabriella and Troy to themselves. Slowly Troy stood up from the ground, shaking his head as Gabriella's smirk grew. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just I found out that all it takes is a bit of disapproval by a three year old and you cave like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar."

"What can I say?" Troy laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "I can't resist that pout."

"Interesting, I'll remember that."

"Don't you dare try to use that against me, Montez!"

Gabriella just smiled at Troy, the awkwardness from earlier that morning gone for the most part as the two were back to their friendly banter.

"Well, I better go get ready and leave you alone before someone comes in and spots us together."

"Yeah, I can only imagine what a fight that would be."

"Yeah, we don't want that. Good luck today Gabi."

"You too Troy."

And as Troy made his way out towards the locker room, the only thing that could be heard for a few moments was the sound of Ethan bouncing the ball on the court both of them lost in their thoughts of how difficult any kind of friendship or even relationship was going to be, especially if their parents ever found out.

---

The gymnasium had begun to fill up around 9:30 that morning, everyone arriving early to see the much anticipated matchup between the two rival families. Not many times during the annual tournament did the gym fill to capacity, but whenever the Bolton family faced the Montez family, people were bound to show up.

Troy had been barely listening to what his father had been saying from the moment they sat on their bench on the sidelines two minutes earlier. Throughout all of warm-ups, Troy couldn't help but glance over at Gabriella on the opposite side of the court. She was so graceful on the court and he loved that about her. He couldn't believe he'd ignored her all this time. _Years wasted_, Troy sighed, his eyes scanning the crowd and spotting his mom and Amy there along with Mrs. Montez and Ethan before he found himself watching Gabriella out of the corner of his eye as she talked with her dad and brother.

He really didn't want to do this. Put up this front that he hated her and wanted to see her fail miserably. But he had to, or at least that's what he thought. At this point he just hoped they'd make it through the game without some big fight between their families, and that he and Gabriella could get back to their world where they were not really rivals.

"So same as always. Nathan, you take the boy, I have Carlos, and Troy, you have the girl," Jack trailed off as he looked at his youngest son who was staring off onto the court. "Troy!" Jack waved his hand back and forth in front of Troy's face, startling him and bringing him out of his daydream. "Keep focused! You have the girl, alright?"

"Got it," Troy nodded, ignoring the worried look from his dad.

"Alright boys, let's win this. We _cannot_ let them win. Boltons on three. One, two, three-"

"Boltons!" The three guys cheered, Troy less enthused than the other two.

The three walked to center court, and Troy looked up, his eyes connecting with Gabriella's. Normally the teams would exchange handshakes, but between these two families, there was never any contact that could be construed as polite or friendly.

So as Jack and Carlos stepped into the circle for the opening tip neither backing down as they glared each other down, Troy and Gabriella could only exchange a look, silently communicating their wishes of good luck as their brothers were already jabbing back and forth across the circle.

The whistle blew, bringing the two back to focus on the game, both watching as the ball sailed up into the air before Carlos tipped it over to Matt who controlled the ball before dribbling up the court, Nathan right in his face.

Troy backpedalled a few steps, keeping the right distance between him and Gabriella as he kept his eye on Matt who had the ball.

"Ball!" Gabriella called out, catching a sharp chest pass from Matt. Looking at Troy who was in his defensive stance in front of her, Gabriella felt a smirk tug at her lips. Despite all of her hatred for the rivalry, and even though she was having these new feelings for the guy across from her, this was basketball and she loved this game. Her competitive nature wasn't going to be pushed aside.

Taking a few dribbles, Gabriella bounced the ball to her dad, who was posted up at the top of the key, before speeding past Troy, catching the over-the-shoulder pass from her dad and easily scoring the lay-up.

Gabriella jogged back by Troy, catching his eye for a second and sending him a small grin before continuing down the court to set up defensively.

"Troy! What was that man? Stay with her!" Troy shook his head, coming out of his momentary daze as he heard his brother yell at him in frustration.

"My bad, I'll get her next time."

"You better," Nathan yelled back, in-bounding the ball to Troy, who began to dribble slowly up the court, grinning to himself as he saw Gabriella ready defensively. He was competitive too. He needed to get his thoughts off of the beautiful girl across from him for the next forty minutes. He wasn't about to let his team lose because of him.

Spotting Nathan darting wide open to the basket, Troy lobbed the ball up towards the basket to Nathan, who caught it mid-air and easily laid it in.

Troy smiled to himself, jogging back up to the court, glancing to his left to see Gabriella running beside him.

Game on.

--

Gabriella glanced over at the clock from her place on the bench during their final timeout. Ten seconds left. Up by one point. The Boltons had the ball, and the plan was simple. Man to man defense, she was on Troy. _Do not let them score_.

As she and her dad and brother came together, hands in the center, she could see the excitement in their eyes. They hadn't been this close to winning a game against the Bolton family in years. They all knew how important this possession was, and what it meant.

The buzzer sounded, signaling the timeout was over.

"Alright kids, this is it. Win on three. One-two-three-"

"Win!"

The crowd cheered as both teams jogged back out onto the court. Everyone was on the edge of their seats. This was by far the most exciting game the tournament had seen in awhile.

The referee handed the ball to Nathan and blew the whistle. With Matt guarding him on the inbound, Nathan faked a pass to Jack before bouncing it to Troy near half-court.

Gabriella got ready defensively, guarding Troy as he dribbled to the right side behind the three point line, her feet quickly sliding defensively as Troy tried to switch directions to no avail. She watched as Troy bounced the ball behind him to Nathan before running through the key, Gabriella following him only to crash into Jack who set a screen for him.

Gabriella could only watch, her call for her dad to switch coming moments too late as Troy caught a pass from Nathan and scored a short jump shot.

Both groans and cheers were heard from the crowd. Gabriella hurriedly looked towards the clock seeing they had four seconds left. Four seconds and down by one. No timeouts. They still had a shot though.

Matt inbounded the ball to Gabriella, who was near half court. Catching the pass, Gabriella turned and dribbled quickly up court. Seeing her dad was covered, and looking at the clock wind down, now at two and a half seconds, she knew she had to take the shot.

With Troy's hand right in her face, Gabriella launched up a shot just behind the three point line as the buzzer sounded.

Every eye turned towards the basket, watching the ball sail towards it, the gym completely silent for those few moments that seemed like minutes to the six players on the court.

The swish of the ball sailing through the hoop broke the silence, and much of the crowd cheered at the amazing game winning shot.

Gabriella was staring in shock at the basket, still not believing they'd won and that she'd made that shot until she felt herself being crushed by another body, turning her head to see Matt's enormous smile as he lifted her in the air.

"Gabi! That was such an amazing shot! I can't believe it, we won!"

Gabriella felt another pair of arms grasp her, and turned around to see her father there, the biggest smile on his face that she'd ever seen. "Gabi, you were incredible!"

"Thanks Dad and Matt. You guys were too."

"Gabi!" Gabriella faintly heard her name being called before a small body crashed into her legs, squeezing her tightly.

She'd know that hug anywhere. Looking down, Gabriella wasn't shocked at all to see Ethan there, with the biggest toothy grin she'd ever seen on his face. Lifting him up into her arms, Gabriella hugged him back.

"You made it! I knew you'd win!"

"Thanks buddy," she grinned, hugging him once more, as her family continued to celebrate their win, all of them suddenly turning to glance over at the referee, hearing the loud arguing coming from the Boltons, specifically Jack and Nathan.

"No way that counts!"

"Are you blind!? The ball was still in her hands when the buzzer sounded! Call it off! You know that was the wrong call!"

Before Gabriella could stop him, her dad began to walk over to where the confrontation was taking place, a smug grin on his face.

"You have to be kidding me Bolton! You're just crying because you can't believe you got beat. That shot was good and you know it!"

"Shut up Montez," Jack yelled, his attention now on Carlos instead as he took a few steps towards him, getting in his face. "There is no possible way she got that shot off in time. What'd you do? Pay off the ref before the game? Maybe give his son a date with your daughter there if he gave you the win?"

"Dad!"

Before Jack could continue any further and before a now fuming Carlos could do anything, Troy stepped in between the two of them, roughly pushing his dad back.

"Dad, they won and you know it," Troy told him, glancing over his shoulder back at Gabriella, who was holding Ethan more tightly to herself as the little boy buried his face in her shoulder, scared of all the yelling.

"Troy, you were right there! You saw the ball was still in her hands!"

"Dad, quit it! Yes, I was there. She got it off in plenty of time and made an incredible shot! We lost, they won. Deal with it. Now let's go home."

Not giving his family any chance to respond, Troy pushed his dad towards the bench, grabbing Nathan's shoulder and pushing him towards the bench as well.

After clearing up their stuff from the bench for the next team who'd be coming in, the three made their way to the locker room. The moment the door slammed shut, Troy braced himself, knowing the yelling was coming.

"What was that Troy?!" Jack screamed at his son, the fury evident in his dark eyes.

"Yeah, what were you thinking man? A little more arguing, and that ref might have caved," Nathan joined in.

Troy shook his head, quickly grabbing his towel out so he could go take a shower. "You both were making fools out of yourselves and our family. She made that shot. Their team played one hell of a game and they won. Now you can sit here and whine about it or you can just let it go and use it as fuel for the rest of the tournament because we'll probably end up facing them in the finals."

"Yeah, if you don't screw up again and give up a game winning shot. How could you miss that man? You let a _girl_ beat you."

Troy glared at his older brother. "Nate, she would have made that shot in your face too. She may be a girl, but she's got a lot of skills, and I am pretty sure you'd have trouble keeping up with her too."

"Stop it, I don't care about that right now," Jack yelled at Nathan, taking a few steps towards Troy. "You stepped in between Montez and I. You basically were on their side. How could you do that? You know how much they hate us."

"Not all of them hate us Dad," Troy retorted quickly. "And Ethan was scared to death of all the yelling. If you'd take two seconds to look past this stupid rivalry crap, you would have seen that."

"Who is Ethan?" Jack asked, looking confused.

"Ethan is his youngest son."

"Well good. I'm glad he was scared. He'll be playing against us one day and he's going to grow up to hate us anyways. Best to get him to understand how things are early on."

Troy shook his head in disbelief, gathering his stuff before brushing past his dad. "Dad, you're such an idiot sometimes. I've gotta get back to school. I'll see you guys next weekend."

Without giving his dad an opportunity to respond, Troy made his way to the showers, quickly showering and changing, ignoring the yelling he still heard coming from his dad and brother. After he was finished a few minutes later, Troy hurried out of the locker room, stopping to give his mom and Amy a hug and a kiss before hopping in his car and heading back towards school, relieved at least one confrontation with the Montez family was out of the way.

* * *

**AN: I'm sorry this story isn't getting updated really often. I've got a couple of stories on my plate right now plus school is starting up again. But I will do my best to update as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who's reading! Also, I have a banner up now for this story and also for Disguised Affection on my page if you guys want to check them out. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Saturdays were without a doubt Chad's favorite day of the week. From sleeping in, to the all you can eat brunch at the cafeteria, to there being no classes, to the parties…Saturdays were hands down the days he looked forward to the most. Very few things could bring down his spirits on a Saturday. But as he stopped outside of his room early on Saturday night, with a bag of the best Mexican food in town in one hand and his drink in his other, the yelling from inside the room instantly tipped Chad off that his favorite day was about to lose some of its excitement.

Still though, Chad took his keys out of his pocket, unlocking the door and closing his eyes with a quick prayer that at the very least, his roommate's anger would not be taken out on him, before pushing open the door.

"NO! DAD YOU LISTEN!"

Chad quickly shoved the door closed, hoping no one else heard Troy's outburst as he yelled through the phone at his father. Taking quiet steps across the room, Chad made his way over to his desk, briefly wondering if maybe he should leave the room. Looking up at Troy and getting his attention, Chad pointed at himself before motioning to the door, silently asking Troy if he needed to leave, but took a seat when Troy waved him off and shook his head.

"Dad, like I said at the gym earlier, they won fairly. They didn't cheat. She made that shot and we both know it. It's just a game Da-,"

Chad winced as he heard Troy's dad's voice carry loudly over the phone as he yelled at Troy who was now holding the phone a few inches away from his head. Chad sent his roommate a small grin out of sympathy, sitting down at his desk and flipping open his laptop while he tried to refrain from eavesdropping too much.

"No Dad, I wasn't trying to make you look like an idiot-," Troy groaned as he was interrupted, flopping back on his bed. "Dad I'm sorry okay? But you were making an idiot out of yourself without my help."

Chad raised his eyebrows, wincing again as Jack's yelling could be heard loudly even though Troy was on the other side of the room.

It wasn't tough to tell that although Troy's impatience was growing; his Dad was not happy at all about Troy's last comment. "Yes I respect you, but I'm not going to just let you ream into me when I didn't do anything. You were making a fool out of yourself and our family! The holiday tournament is something I love to be a part of, but I don't want to be a part of it if that's the impression people are going to get of us. Look Dad, I don't want to talk about it anymore-," Troy sighed, being interrupted again. "Dad, I'm not going to listen to this. I'll see you Saturday."

Troy groaned, turning of his phone and slamming it down on the bed.

Chad slowly shut his laptop, debating whether or not to talk to Troy, before finally deciding he should say something, opting to just state the obvious. "That your dad?"

"Yeah, that was him." Troy pushed himself up off of his back, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Called just to let me know how disappointed he is with me."

"Why's he disappointed?"

"We lost the game today." Troy brought his hand up to rub his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And, more importantly, I stepped between my Dad and Gabi's dad, which majorly pissed him off."

"Why'd you step between them?"

"He started saying crap about Gabi, and not only that, but he was making a fool of himself and our family in front of a lot of people." Troy stopped short of continuing as he saw a small smirk tug at Chad's lips. "What?"

"Stepping in to defend your girl huh?"

Troy quickly blinked his eyes. Chad was right, but he sure wasn't going to admit it. "What?"

"Oh don't act all innocent with me man. We both know you want her to be your girl."

The moment the words left Chad's mouth, a small grin seeped through his hardened exterior onto his face. He may still be pissed at his dad, but just the thought of things possibly going further with Gabriella almost completely wiped away his bad mood. Almost. "Yeah, maybe," Troy admitted with a soft chuckle. "Listen man, I'm going to go get some fresh air and cool off for awhile. I'll be back at some point later tonight."

"You want some food before you go?" Chad asked, pulling taco after taco out of his bag like it was some long lost bag belonging to Mary Poppins.

"You are going to share your food?" Troy's jaw dropped slightly while he raised his eyebrows curiously.

Chad quickly shook his head. "Oh, no no no. I just meant that we could go grab you something from the café. This right here is mine." Chad sent him a serious look, making sure to gather up his tacos and place them all within secure reach.

"That's what I thought." Troy just rolled his eyes at his friend who was already chowing down on a taco as Troy grabbed his keys and his sweatshirt as he took off for some much needed peace and quiet.

* * *

With her arms wrapped around her midsection to keep herself warm, Gabriella walked down the sidewalk of the quad from the library on her way back to her dorm. Her arms were filled with goosebumps and Gabriella found herself wishing she would have grabbed a sweatshirt before she'd left. Nearing the opposite end of the quad, her eyes focused on a figure laying flat on a bench. As she got closer, Gabriella felt her heart pick up once she recognized who was laying there.

An internal debate began to take place in her mind, one side of her very hesitant to go see him and the other side of her desperately wanting to go sit next to him. She hadn't seen Troy since they had played earlier that day, and due to all the commotion after the game between their families, she wasn't sure if Troy actually wanted to talk to her. Who knows what kind of arguments he had with his dad and brother after the game? He could be upset at her. But then again, Troy didn't seem like the type to get too upset at her over something trivial like losing a basketball game. Plus, he did defend her at the game.

Movement from the bench caught Gabriella's eye, and she watched as Troy placed his hands over his face and a grimace made its way onto his features. Her heart tugged, knowing something was bothering him. She couldn't just let him sit there. The part of her that desperately wanted to go talk to him was winning out.

With a nervousness in the pit of her stomach and a deep sigh, Gabriella pushed herself forwards, making her way towards the bench across the way. It wasn't until she was about ten feet away that Troy stirred as he heard the footsteps approaching, removing one hand off his face so he could see who was there.

"Hey." Troy quickly maneuvered himself so he was sitting up, his eyes looking up at Gabriella who was standing nervously in front of him wringing her fingers.

"Hi, do you mind if I sit down?"

"Not at all!" Troy said, quickly scooting over and picking up his sweatshirt that he'd been resting his head on.

"Thanks," Gabriella replied, taking a seat next to him and following his gaze out across the barely lit quad.

"You played great today," Troy spoke after a few moments of silence. "I don't know if I had a chance to tell you that earlier."

Gabriella blushed, grateful that it was dark and that her blush wasn't that noticeable. "Thank you Troy, so did you."

"Thanks." He said the words to express gratitude, but his voice lacked any type of positive emotion. Gabriella felt that he was distant at the moment, his mind probably plagued with thoughts of what happened earlier in the day. Just as she began to debate if maybe she should just politely excuse herself and leave him alone, Troy surprised her with a question. "So what brings you out to the quad on a Saturday night?"

"I was on my way back to the dorm from the library."

A small chuckle escaped as Troy grinned at her words. "The library huh? On a Saturday night?

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Gabriella asked, playfully narrowing her eyes.

"Montez, you are such a nerd sometimes."

"Hey!" Gabriella swatted his arm with her hand, her jaw hanging open in a shocked, but amused way. "I am not a nerd! Excuse me for staying on top of my assignments and studying."

"Yeah, but you were at the library on a SATURDAY night…kind of a nerd move," Troy laughed, before trying to duck away as Gabriella repeatedly smacked his arm and tried to reach up to smack his head, persistently telling him she was not a nerd. "Okay, okay, I surrender!" Troy raised his hands in the air, still laughing.

Gabriella relented, and pulled her hand back, her eyebrows raised skeptically. "You take it back?"

"Yes, yes, I take it back," Troy said through his laughter. "Forgive me?" Gabriella couldn't help but grin a little bit. Not only was she enjoying their teasing back and forth, but she was feeling relieved that Troy had opened up a bit and wasn't as deep in thought as before. She wasn't sure why she had grown so attached to Troy so quickly, but she had. She couldn't deny that their budding friendship meant a lot to her.

Deciding to tease him a bit more, Gabriella continued, "I don't know if I believe you. Say 'Gabriella is not a nerd and is the coolest person I know', and then I'll consider it."

Troy's eyes rolled in amusement, before he gave a dramatic sigh. "Gabriella is not a nerd," Troy repeated, struggling to keep a straight face.

"And?" Gabriella pushed.

His head shook amusedly as he continued, "And you are the coolest person I know."

"And my basketball skills are way better than yours."

"That wasn't in the original agreement!" Troy laughed in protest.

"What original agreement, Bolton? I said I'd _consider_ forgiving you if you said that. You called me a nerd, and now you have to make up for it. I make the rules."

"Getting bossy there Montez?"

"Just say it!" Gabriella ordered, struggling to control her own laughter and keep a straight face. "I'm not getting any younger Bolton. Say my basketball skills are way better than yours."

"Okay," Troy said slowly with a sly grin, "_My _basketball skills are way better than yours."

"Ugh." Gabriella groaned, he had gotten her there. She wouldn't let him know, but she knew she'd opened herself right up for that. "Ha ha, funny. But that's not going to earn you my forgiveness anytime soon."

"Alright, alright. But only because you played one heck of a game today, and I don't want to be in your bad books for the next few days," Troy sighed with a small grin, admitting defeat. "Gabriella, your basketball skills are way better than mine."

"Why thank you Troy."

"Sometimes." Troy added, before ducking out of the way as her arm came over to smack him once more.

"You're hopeless," Gabriella pushed his shoulder, a wide smile spreading across her face while her eyes connected with his. A shiver ran through her, partly due to the cold weather, but mostly due to the way he was smiling at her.

Troy, being ever chivalrous, noticed and quickly picked up his sweatshirt. "Montez, what are you doing out here without a sweatshirt? Why didn't you tell me you were cold?"

"It wasn't this cold when I went to the library earlier today," Gabriella admitted.

Troy smirked, "I'll refrain from another nerd comment and instead just tell you to put this on before you get sick, alright?" Before she could protest, Troy took his hoodie and pulled it over her head, satisfied when she placed her arms in and pulled it on completely.

"Thanks," she said with a coy smile before she turned a bit more serious. "So what brings you out here on a Saturday night?"

Gabriella winced a bit seeing Troy's demeanor suddenly change, his expression turning once again very burdened and contemplative. She watched as Troy tried to force a small grin, but noticed the lack of sincerity in it. She really was curious now as to what was on his mind, and she wanted to help him if possible. But, she also didn't want to push him. Sure they were friends, but she didn't know if he was comfortable enough in their friendship to share what was really going on. After all they'd only been friends for a short time after a long history of being essentially enemies.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Gabriella added quickly, deciding she wanted to let him know he didn't have to tell her.

"No, no, it's fine," Troy breathed out, running his hand over his face and turning to face her a little more. "After the game today, my dad was pretty pissed, as you probably knew already from what you saw at the game."

"Yeah Troy, I'm sorry about that-," Gabriella interrupted, only to stop when Troy placed his hand on her arm.

"Gabi, don't apologize. It wasn't your fault one bit. My dad was being a complete idiot and made our whole family look like fools. I still can't believe he yelled and said what he did about you, and that he scared Ethan. And I told him all of that. I let him know how stupid he was being, and pretty much all day he's been calling to yell at me and let me know just how much he's disappointed in me defending you today. He's being a complete jerk, and really, I'm the one who should be apologizing, for my family, how they acted today. I'm sorry my dad said that stuff about you and your family," Troy confessed, ducking his head when he finished, not being able to look her in the eye.

Not only had his conversations with his dad been wearing on him the past few hours since the game ended, but he was also worried about what it all meant for his friendship with Gabriella. He knew he didn't want to lose her from his life, especially now when they were just starting to get close. But he also understood that with all the tension between their families that had played out that day, she may just want to stop before things got worse.

Gabriella felt a pang in her chest at his words and at the reaction he had after. Sometimes she wondered how he was so different than his dad and brother. In her mind, he had no reason to apologize either.

"Troy." He looked up as he felt her soft hand run down his forearm and rest on top of his hand. "You don't have to apologize either. What happened today…well, to be honest, I'm embarrassed about my family too. We knew it was going to happen though, and we both know that we can try all we want, but our families are stubborn. But listen," Gabriella paused as Troy looked up at her, taking a deep breath as she willed herself to finish what she was thinking, "I don't want all of this to cause a problem with your relationship with your family. So if you want to stop hanging out and just go back to how things were before, I understand."

Gabriella looked away when she uttered the last sentence, not being able to look into his blue eyes that were staring right back at her with such attention, cursing herself as her voice cracked when she had finished. Her breath caught in her throat though when she felt his hand grip hers and the fingers from his other hand tentatively grace her cheek and tilt her head back to face him.

Gabriella's heart began to race as Troy took a deep breath, his hand still placed on her cheek. "Now you listen Montez," Troy cracked a playful grin, "don't you worry about me and my family. I won't let my dad and brother ruin our friendship. Getting to know you this year has been great, and I often find myself regretting all the time wasted that we could have been friends. So you're not getting rid of me that easily. I'm just out here to clear my head and try to keep my dad from ruining my night. The thought of ending our friendship never crossed my mind, although I worried you might want to after today."

"Now you're the one being crazy Bolton," Gabriella teased, nudging his elbow with hers, both of them catching each other's eyes, their smiles widening.

"So how is Ethan? Is he okay after today?"

"He's fine. He just got a little scared with all the yelling, but after a few hugs and an afternoon of watching _The Incredibles_, he was just fine."

"_The Incredibles_, huh?" Troy couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's his favorite," Gabriella told him, feeling her heart race as an idea popped into her head. She wanted to spend more time with Troy, and she could tell that he was obviously drained from all the conversations he'd had that day with his dad. She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "So did you have any plans for the rest of the night?"

"Besides sitting here and wallowing in my sorrow? Nope," Troy joked, earning a small laugh from her. "You?"

"No not really, I was just going to spend the evening watching TV or something."

"Sounds like we're both in for an exciting evening," a small grin tugged at Troy's lips at his own sarcastic comment.

With a slight shakiness in her voice, Gabriella asked what she'd been trying to build up the courage to ask for the past few moments. "Would you want to hang out maybe?"

Troy brought his fingers up to stroke his chin in a dramatic pause. "Hmm, hang out with a Montez, especially on an evening after they beat us in basketball? My dad would be furious."

"Oh," Gabriella closed her eyes and dropped her head, wishing she could just disappear for suggesting something so stupid.

"I'd love to." Troy grinned, watching her eyes flutter open.

"Um," Gabriella paused, her eyes connecting with his amused ones, still trying to figure out if she'd heard him correctly, "what did you say?"

Troy's smile just grew. He found her so adorable with her face all scrunched up. "I said I'd love to."

"Really?"

Troy nodded, unable to stop smiling when he saw her expression turn overjoyed. "Yeah, of course. What did you want to do?"

Willing her heart to stop racing, Gabriella quickly formulated what she wanted to say. "I have this place I go to when I want to get away and clear my head of whatever crap is going on in my life. And since you have had a pretty crappy day with your dad, I thought maybe you'd like to get away from school and everything for a few hours? If you don't want to, it's fine. We can do something else."

"No, that sounds perfect actually," Troy said honestly, grinning as he saw her look away to most likely hide her infamous blush. "Where is this place though?"

"Now _that_ I cannot tell you until we get there. So, are you game?"

With a boost of confidence Troy stood up from the bench, reaching out his hand towards Gabriella and immediately interlacing their fingers the second she softly placed her hand in his, "Let's go."

Gabriella knew her cheeks were bright red as the two walked towards the dorm room to pick up her keys before heading to her car. It didn't matter though. His fingers were tightly wound through hers and that was all she could think about in that moment.

* * *

"Troy, come on!"

"No way! You didn't tell me this was where we were going!"

"Troy, stop being a wimp. You knew from the beginning that it was a surprise. Now come on, it won't be that bad."

"It won't be that bad! How do you know? They're going to kill me!"

"They won't kill you," Gabriella giggled. He was being stubborn, yet she found it adorable.

"Oh they will! I am a Bolton. This is not a good idea."

"Troy that doesn't matter-,"

"Yes it does! They are your dad's parents."

"Exactly! My dad's _parents_. They are _not_ my dad," Gabriella sighed, walking over to where Troy was stubbornly standing by the locked car, unwilling to take any steps towards the house in front of him. "Troy, my grandparents think my dad is stupid for this rivalry. They always have. They aren't going to eat you alive or anything. I swear, you'll love them. Now stop being a wimp and come on!"

Gabriella raised her eyebrows and nodded towards the door, rolling her eyes as Troy seemed to still be a bit reluctant. Deciding she'd had enough, Gabriella stepped closer and gripped his wrist in hers, pulling a dragging Troy behind her towards the door. "I promise I'll stand in front of you if they try to kill you, okay?"

"That's reassuring," Troy muttered, still dragging his feet a bit.

"Stop being a baby," Gabriella giggled, letting her hand slide down to loosely grip his as the doorbell rang.

A sharp intake of breath could be heard from Troy as his eyes fixed on the window by the front door where someone had pulled back the curtains before disappearing again. His hand gripped hers a little more tightly when the door swung open to reveal a man a little taller than Troy with thin grey hair and glasses that had found a resting place on the tip of his nose.

"Gabriella!" The man cried out, immediately reaching out to wrap his arms around her, while she returned his hug with one arm as her other was still being held by Troy. "How's my favorite granddaughter?"

"I'm good Papa, how are you?" Gabriella asked, pulling back after kissing his cheek.

"Oh, same old, same old. Your grandma and I were just fixing dinner," he said, his eyes then shifting to the obviously nervous boy standing next to his granddaughter. His eyes trailed down to where their hands were joined and he did his best to hide a knowing smirk. "Gabi, would you like to tell me why you brought a Bolton to this house?"

If it wasn't for Gabriella's tightened grip on his hand, Troy would have booked it out of there. He thought she'd said that her grandparents didn't care about the rivalry, but he wasn't getting that vibe. "Papa, this is Troy."

"Mmhmm," the older man said a bit under his breath, still eyeing Troy. "Does your father know?"

"Nope."

"Good, come on in!" Gabriella giggled as her grandpa stepped aside, motioning for them to enter, and with a little tug, she dragged a still reluctant Troy into the house.

"You kids go on in and distract Grandma while I go check the score of the game."

"Alright Papa, but don't be too long. She'll get suspicious you know," Gabriella laughed, watching as he waved her off before escaping to the family room. After he rounded the corner, Gabriella turned her head to glance up at Troy only to find him giving her a pointed look. "What?"

"Gabi, you said it wouldn't be that bad!"

"It wasn't!"

"Did you see the look he gave me? Are you sure he's not in there calling your dad right now to come beat the crap out of me?"

"Oh please, he was just joking around to scare you. Obviously it worked. Now, let's go distract my Grandma, unless you're scared of seventy year old women too."

"Shut up Montez," Troy said, cracking his first smile since they had arrived at her grandparents' house, not releasing her hand as he followed her towards the kitchen.

"Grandma?" Gabriella called out, peeking her head around the corner.

"Gabi!" Troy smiled as the grey-haired woman with a floral-patterned apron set a plate on the counter and ran over to Gabriella, engulfing her in a huge hug and kissing her on the forehead, while Troy stood somewhat awkwardly behind them, releasing Gabriella's hand so she could properly hug her grandma. "I was wondering if you'd stop by tonight. Grandpa and I saw your game today…that was quite impressive. We are so proud of you!"

"Thanks Grandma," Gabriella replied, burying her face in her Grandma's shoulder to hide her slight blush while she accepted another hug.

The two pulled apart, and Gabriella smiled at Troy as her Grandma's eyes fixed on him. "Gabi, is this Troy Bolton?"

"Yes Grandma, I saw him at school and invited him to come up here with me. I hope you don't mind us crashing your dinner."

"Nonsense sweetie, although I'm sure your dad wouldn't feel the same."

"Which is why he doesn't know," Gabriella informed her with a sheepish grin and a little wink.

"Ah, gotcha. Well, that man is stubborn anyways and I'm sure that if you like Troy here enough to hang out with him, then he is nothing like how your dad depicts when he complains about his family," she explained before turning to Troy. "It's nice to meet you Troy."

"You too Mrs. Montez," Troy replied respectfully, holding out his hand to shake hers.

"Nonsense boy," she said, pushing his hand down and stepping forward to wrap him in a hug, "handshakes are for strangers, and you are not a stranger here."

"Thank you, Mrs. Montez."

"Of course hun. So, did you two eat yet?"

Gabriella looked at Troy who shook his head, before turning back to her grandma. "We haven't."

"Excellent! I'll set the table for two more then."

"Can we help you do anything Grandma?" Gabriella asked as the woman busied herself in the cupboards and drawers, grabbing more place settings.

"Oh no sweetie, I'm almost done here…which is the only reason your grandpa is getting away with sneaking out of helping me to go watch his game," she said, her voice raising to almost a yell with the latter part of her sentence, trying to get her husband's attention, but only being rewarded with the sound of the TV growing louder. Gabriella and Troy looked at each other and laughed at the two.

"Would it be okay then if we went outside for a bit then until dinner was ready?"

"Certainly dear! You kids go enjoy yourselves. I'll come get you when we're ready to eat."

Gabriella smiled gratefully before leading the way towards the back door, pausing as her grandma placed her hand on her forearm, watching as Troy continued towards the door.

"I like him Gabi. He's polite, and cute too!" the woman said quietly under her breath.

"Grandma!" Gabriella whispered with her cheeks reddening. "We're just friends!"

"Whatever you say, dear," the woman said unconvincingly, kissing the side of her granddaughter's head and watching while the two made their way outside, unable to hide her knowing grin.

* * *

"So, this is your spot, huh?" Troy said, breaking the silence. The two were seated on a swing set that was near the edge of her grandparents' backyard, overlooking the city lights below, the stars and moon above along with the lights from the house being the only things illuminating the backyard.

"Yep, this is it."

"It's great," Troy admitted, watching as Gabriella swayed slightly back and forth in her swing, in time with him. "You come here a lot?"

"I try to stop by whenever I can, usually one night on the weekend. This place is so peaceful, and plus I get to spend time with my grandparents. Grandma's cooking is the best!" Gabriella gushed.

"I bet it is, grandmas always make the best food."

"They do," Gabriella laughed.

"Your grandparents are really great," Troy said after a few quiet moments passed between them.

"Even my grandpa?"

"Aside from him finding amusement in scaring the crap out of me…yes, even your grandpa," Troy laughed, smiling as Gabriella joined in. "Thanks for inviting me and bringing me up here Gabriella," Troy spoke, his voice heavy with gratitude. "It's made my night so much better, and definitely helped to clear my head. It means a lot to me that you'd invite me and want to hang out with me after I was in such a down mood before."

Gabriella couldn't help but smile as Troy shared his thoughts with her, realizing just how thankful she was to have a friendship with Troy that was growing every day. "You're welcome Troy. And don't worry about earlier. I'd be in a down mood too, probably worse than you were. But Troy," Gabriella paused, debating whether or not she wanted to say what was on her mind. She decided to just throw caution to the wind and go for it though when his eyes connected with hers and encouraged her to go on. "I just want you to know that I'm here for you as a friend, whenever you need it. You can call me anytime, and we can just talk, or come up here and see my crazy grandparents." The two laughed at that, before the moment grew serious again. "Whatever and whenever, know I'm here, alright?"

Troy smiled, feeling like he was on Cloud Nine as he realized that their friendship meant so much to her, just like it did for him. Deciding that actions speak louder than words, Troy responded by removing one hand from his swing and reaching over to grab Gabriella's, immediately weaving his fingers tightly through hers and giving her hand a tight squeeze while the two continued to sway back and forth. His mind was finally clear from everything that happened earlier that day, the thoughts exchanged for ones of the girl sitting next to him, and the possibility of something more than friendship developing between them. And those thoughts brought a smile of contentment to his face.

* * *

**AN: I am so so so sorry. Honestly, these last two quarters of school were tougher than I thought, and I just haven't had the time to write. I had this written for awhile but didn't want to post until I had gotten another chapter done and got going with this story again. I can't promise frequent updates, I have a lot going on right now. But, it is summer, so hopefully I will get this story going again. Thanks to all who are still reading and to everyone who gave me a nudge to update. Your support means a lot. **


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thank you to everyone who is reading this and also thanks to those who reviewed last chapter**. **Sorry I haven't responded, I will soon. And sorry for the delay in this chapter. I'm trying to keep one chapter ahead and I hope the next one comes even sooner. With school just around the corner, I'd like to get this story almost done before I start. Also, thanks to everyone who encouraged me to keep going with this story and get this chapter up. Your encouragement is much appreciated. :) **

**Chapter 7**

To any college student, Christmas break was a welcome relief. And the thousands of students at the University of Albuquerque were no different than any other college students. Christmas break meant that the first semester was finally over, that many students for the first time in months could go back home, and for the members of the women's and men's basketball teams, it meant that the annual holiday tournament in Phoenix had arrived. The holiday tournament in Phoenix was one of the highlights of the year for each member of the team, and as freshmen, Troy and Chad had been looking forward to it since they had gotten their letters of acceptance the year before.

"Dude, how many clothes are you packing?"

"Enough for a five day tournament," Troy answered, walking over to his closet and pulling out a light blue long-sleeved collared shirt. The two were doing last minute packing for the tournament that they would be leaving for early the next morning."Unlike some people I like to keep from smelling like I've been wearing the same shirt for three days straight."

"I don't smell like I've been wearing the same shirt for three days!" Chad protested.

Troy raised his eyebrows, unconvinced. "Keep telling yourself that man."

"And why are you taking a nice shirt?"

"No reason," Troy mumbled, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, an act that didn't go unnoticed by Chad.

"Ohhh," a grin formed on Chad's face, picking up on what was going on. "You want to look good for Gabriella! You finally gonna man up and ask her out?"

"Yeah," Troy admitted, with a hint of coyness.

"Really!"

"Yes Chad."

"Freaking finally!" Chad walked over to clap his friend on the back before returning to his bed to pack his bag. "So where are you going to take her?"

Troy shrugged, folding up his collared shirt and placing it with the other clothes in his bag. "I'm not sure yet. I'll find some nice restaurant to take her to once we get there."

"Wow you've really thought this through," Chad teased sarcastically, laughing when Troy glared at him. "Seriously though, Gabriella doesn't seem like the type who's going to pack a dress or anything to go to the tourney in Phoenix. You know how these tournaments go. Most of us just pack sweats, our uniforms, and a swimsuit. She won't pack anything other than that and maybe some jeans."

Troy stopped packing, looking over at Chad as the realization dawned on his face.

"Dang, you _really_ haven't thought this through man," Chad laughed, shaking his head as he continued packing.

"I know! I thought this would be a great idea because we'll be far away from this area and less likely to be seen by our families or someone who knows us. I planned to wait to ask her out until we get there so I can find a place to take her, but what if she doesn't bring something nice to wear? She might not want to go out then."

"Well can't you take her somewhere casual?"

"Yeah, I just wanted some options I guess. And I don't want her to feel under-dressed. Maybe I should just call her and tell her to bring something nice to wear."

"Cause that won't give it away," Chad muttered sarcastically.

"I don't know what else to do though!" Troy exclaimed, feeling a lot more stress in addition to the pressure he was already feeling about asking Gabriella out on their first date.

"It's alright, calm down buddy. The Chadster _always_ has a plan."

"_The Chadster_?" Troy repeated with his eyebrows raised, unable to keep his laughter from escaping.

"You want my help or not, man?"

"Alright, alright, what's your plan?"

"That's what I thought," Chad said with a smug grin. "Okay, so you have her room phone number right? Who am I kidding, of course you have her room number!" Chad teased, not even giving Troy a chance to answer his question.

"Yeah, I have it in my phone."

"Of course you do. Speed dial yeah?" Chad joked again, loving the opportunities he was getting to tease his friend. "So, you're going to head over to their room, make sure Sharpay is there, and then you text me while distracting Gabriella. I'll call and I'll take care of making sure Gabriella has a dress packed."

"You're gonna call Sharpay?" Chad nodded. "And actually get along?"

"You want my help or not?"

"Okay, okay," Troy laughed, holding his hands up in surrender before grabbing his keys and heading towards the door. "I'll text you when I get Gabi out of the room. _Please_ don't get into a fight with Sharpay."

"Whatever, how are you going to distract her?"

"I was going to head over to the Plaza and get some snacks and drinks for the trip tomorrow."

Chad's eyes lit up at the mention of food. "Sweet! Can you pick me up some stuff?" Troy nodded. "Oh, and can you get me a spicy chicken sandwich and a smoothie?"

"We just ate an hour ago," Troy informed him to no avail as Chad just waved him off and continued as if he said nothing.

"Oh, and a piece of pizza if it looks good."

"Anything else? I only have two hands you know."

"Four hands…you have Gabriella."

"Right, I'm sure she's going to love having to carry half of the café back to you."

"Oh, if the pizza's not good, then a chicken Caesar salad will be okay."

"A salad? You mean I'm getting you something healthy to eat?"

"Are you implying I don't eat healthy?" Chad asked, pretending to be offended by the comment.

"Let's see, a spicy chicken sandwich, a smoothie, and a slice of pizza…all one hour after you ate three tacos and two enchiladas along with a basket of chips for dinner. Nah man, you're one of the healthiest eaters I know."

"Why thank you Troy," Chad grinned, laughing as Troy just shook his head in disbelief. "Alright hurry up and get out of here so I can make this phone call, and more importantly so I can get my food. Don't take too long with Gabriella now."

"Bye Chad," Troy said, ignoring Chad's teasing tone and not even looking back at his friend who was winking at him.

* * *

No doubt his palms were sweating when Troy stopped outside of Gabriella's dorm room, trying to rid himself of his nerves before he knocked on her door. This had to be one of his dumbest ideas yet. Leaving something like this to Chad seemed completely idiotic and he still had no idea why he agreed. Well, that was a lie. He did know that part of him agreed just for the sole reason that he'd be able to spend even a few minutes with Gabriella. But really, aside from that, what was he thinking? Agreeing to let Chad call Sharpay and get her to put the right clothes into Gabriella's suitcase somehow seemed more and more ridiculous the longer he thought about it. But at this point, his only other choice was to come right out and ask Gabriella out, and that was something he wasn't prepared to do yet.

So with another sigh and a brush of his hands on his shirt, Troy knocked on the door, praying that Chad wouldn't screw this up for him. The door swung open to reveal the person Troy wasn't looking for. Instead of the brunette that had been on his mind, in front of him stood a smirking Sharpay, who looked all too excited to see him there.

"Well hello Troooy," she drug his name out in a teasing tone, leaning her head back to Gabriella's side of the room. "What brings you here?" She smiled at him, pausing for just a brief moment before continuing. "Oh who am I kidding? Do I really need to ask why you're here?"

"Uh, hi Sharpay," Troy knew his cheeks were flushing in embarrassment, and he couldn't resist the urge to bring his hand up to rub the back of his neck. "Is Gabi here?"

"Gabi!" Sharpay sung out, turning back into the room without another word to Troy, "your guy is here."

"Sharpay!" Troy couldn't stifle his chuckle when he heard Gabriella scold her roommate in a loud whisper.

A few seconds later, Gabriella's reddened face came out from behind the closet wall, her embarrassment of her roommate evident. "Hi Troy," Gabriella greeted, turning back to send a glare of warning to Sharpay.

"Hi Gabi," Troy replied, his nerves calming a bit when he sensed that she was just as nervous as he was.

"What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to the Plaza to get some snacks and drinks for the trip tomorrow?"

"Sure, I was just finishing up packing, but that sounds great," Gabriella told him with a smile before turning back to her roommate who was smirking at them still.

"Have fun you two," Sharpay said with a wink and a small wave, laughing as both Gabriella's and Troy's faces flushed.

Gabriella placed a hand on Troy's shoulder, gently pushing him out of the room, trying to ignore her best friend.

"Sorry about that," Gabriella's small voice muttered. "She can be a little…,"

"Crazy?" Troy jumped in.

Gabriella laughed following him out the door of the dorm building into the cool air outside, "Yeah, crazy is a good word to describe her."

The two fell into stride together while walking along the faintly lit sidewalk towards the Plaza Café, their arms brushing every so often, but neither of them moving further apart. "So are you excited for the tournament tomorrow?"

"Yeah! I haven't been to Phoenix in awhile, and I've always loved these long tournaments since high school," Gabriella answered, excitement lighting up her face.

"Same here, these are what can really help gel your team. And I've been looking forward to this specific tournament since they started recruiting me last year," Troy replied, equally ecstatic. "So why is Sharpay still here? I'd thought she'd be at home for break the second she got done with classes…most people are."

"She didn't want to leave me here by myself over the weekend, so she decided to stay. Plus, it's kind of nice to just relax here at school and not have anything to do, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. Chad and I have been taking advantage of the free time by playing lots of video games."

"Chad _and_ you?"

Troy smirked out of the corner of his mouth while he picked up on her teasing tone. "Okay, mainly Chad. And while I'm being honest, we both know that's his normal routine anyways. I don't even know how he passes all of his classes between video games and basketball."

"One of life's mysteries," Gabriella joked, walking through the door to the café as Troy held it open for her.

* * *

Gabriella walked back into her dorm room, grinning from ear to ear and not even noticing Sharpay who was staring at her.

"Have fun?"

Gabriella was snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of Sharpay's voice, and a slight blush tinted her cheeks at being caught in her daydream. Troy had just left moments before, but she could still almost feel his lips on her cheek. Even spending just ten minutes with him, completely brightened her day, and all she could think about were the many opportunities to be together that awaited them for the next five days.

"Sorry what?"

"I asked if you had fun," Sharpay repeated, "but from the look on your face, I know the answer to that. Did he kiss you?"

"What?" Gabriella asked, still in a daze.

"Did he kiss you?"

"Just on the cheek."

"Just on the cheek," Sharpay scoffed, amused at the situation. "If you have that type of reaction from him just kissing you on the cheek, I can't imagine how you're going to act when he finally kisses you."

Ignoring her best friend's teasing, Gabriella tossed her bag of snacks and drinks onto her bed beside her suitcase, before piling some of her clothes in. Suddenly, her eyes came across an unfamiliar outfit. Picking it up, she turned around to face Sharpay. "How did this get in my bag?"

"How did what get in your bag?" Sharpay pretended to act dumb, not even looking at the article of clothing and opting instead to busy herself with her own packing.

"Sharpay!"

"What?" Sharpay asked innocently, finally looking up at Gabriella.

"Why is there a dress in my suitcase for the _basketball_ tournament?"

"What makes you think I had something to do with it?" She questioned, failing miserably at her attempts to put up an innocent front. Gabriella just raised her eyebrows, waiting for a confession. "Okay, fine. I put the dress in there in case you needed it."

"What would I need a dress for?"

"In case Troy asks to take you out," Sharpay said in an obvious tone.

"In case Troy asks me out," Gabriella muttered sarcastically under her breath, tossing the dress aside on her bed.

"Oh pleeeeeeeeease," Sharpay responded walking over and placing the dress back in the bag. "That boy is completely smitten with you and I'd bet every single one of my Christmas presents that he'll be asking you out this week."

Gabriella blushed even more at Sharpay's words. Would he really ask her out that week? The thought alone made butterflies erupt in her stomach. But there was no way. They'd all be too busy with basketball that week, and he'd be too busy hanging out with the guys on his team for the two of them to spend much time together.

"Troy will be too busy with other things to ask me out. Besides who takes a dress to a basketball tournament?" Gabriella shook her head, picking up the dress and tossing it back onto her bed before zipping up her packed suitcase. "I'm going to go brush my teeth and change for bed."

Sharpay waited until Gabriella had left the room before she took out all the clothes on the top of Gabriella's suitcase and placed the dress in the bottom. Chad had told her of Troy's plans, and she wasn't about to let her best friend go on a date in jeans and a t-shirt.

* * *

"It is way too early," Chad grumbled, rubbing his eyes while he walked towards the bus.

"Dude, it's eight in the morning."

"That's early!" Chad persisted, yawning once more while readjusting the shoulder strap on his bag, the heavy weight of his bag causing him to bump into Troy yet again.

Troy just shook his head in amusement at his best friend, stopping in front of the bus and tossing his own bag in before grabbing Chad's and throwing it in the compartment under the bus as well. Turning back around, Troy felt a huge smile tug at his lips when his eyes fell on Gabriella who was walking towards the bus, dressed in a pair of baggy warm up pants and a hoodie, with her luggage in hand.

Without even a word to Chad, Troy took off running, smiling more when she smiled up at him. "Morning!"

"Morning," Gabriella replied, readjusting her bag on her shoulder. "Chad looks wide awake," Gabriella said sarcastically, nodding towards Chad, who was leaning up against the bus with his eyes closed and mouth halfway open.

"Yeah, he'll probably sleep most of the way there. My advice is to sit far away from him if you don't want to be bothered by snoring."

"That bad huh?"

"Some nights I wear earplugs," Troy teased, earning some laughter from Gabriella which caused him to smile. "Can I take your bag?"

"You don't have to."

"It's no problem," Troy told her, holding out his hand, happy when she placed the bag into his hand.

"Thank you," Gabriella smiled, following Troy over towards the bus.

Troy tossed her bag into the compartment beside where Chad was leaning, fast asleep, the noise startling him from his dreams. "Dude, you have a little bit of drool…," Troy informed him, motioning on his own face to the corner of his mouth.

Blinking his eyes a few times, Chad finally brushed the drool off his face, smiling sheepishly at Gabriella and Troy who were standing in front of him, holding back their laughter.

"Come on man, the bus is loading," Troy said, pushing Chad's shoulder causing him to stumble forward while Gabriella and Troy followed behind.

The two guys let Gabriella and a few other girls board the bus first before following behind. Troy's eyes hadn't left Gabriella, and he watched as she took a seat towards the back by herself. Knowing he'd get teased by Chad, but not caring one bit, Troy walked towards her, stopping beside the row of seats.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Gabriella smiled up at Troy, shaking her head and shifting a bit before gesturing for him to sit down.

"Thanks," Troy smiled back at her as he sat down, their gazes locked, both oblivious to everything else and unaware they were staring. They were brought out of their stares though when Chad flopped down in the seat in front of them, turning around and hopping up on his knees to get their attention.

"Hey man, I see how it is," Chad said, trying to slyly wink but failing miserably. "Gabriella," Chad greeted the blushing brunette with a smile, while Troy rolled his eyes, embarrassed by his friend.

"Hi Chad," Gabriella giggled. "Troy, you can sit with Chad if you want. Don't feel like you have to sit here."

Troy started to respond but he was quickly interrupted by his ever-annoying roommate. "Oh, trust me, he doesn't feel like he has to. He's right where he wants to be, right Troy?" Chad teased, punching Troy playfully.

Rubbing his shoulder after Chad had punched him, Troy gritted his teeth and glared at his friend, attempting to cover up his look with a smile. His glare prompted a cowering Chad to lean back in his seat. "Shut up Chad."

"Love you too buddy," Chad grinned cheekily before sitting back down and starting a conversation with one of his teammates.

Troy brought his hand up to rub his forehead, wincing under his breath before turning back to face Gabriella. "Sorry about that. I guess I should have brought some duct tape."

Gabriella's giggles brought Troy out of his embarrassed daze, and he soon found himself giving into his nervous chuckle, while his eyes lit up as he watched her. He was definitely looking forward to not only the week ahead, but also spending the next seven hour drive to Phoenix with her by his side.

"So are you ready to get away for a week?" Troy asked a few minutes later when the bus pulled away from the curb.

"Definitely," Gabriella admitted with a sigh of relief.

"Going to miss your family?" Troy asked, picking up that something more was on her mind.

"A little bit. I will miss Ethan for sure, but actually I'm looking forward to not being around most of my family for the next few days."

"How come?"

"Honestly?" Troy nodded, encouraging her to continue. "My family, especially my dad, has been a bit pushy lately…basically trying to dictate my life a little too much."

"How so?"

Gabriella couldn't help but feel flattered at Troy showing so much interest. Every time they spent time together she found herself regretting the fact that they'd spent so much time being indifferent to one another growing up, all because of a stupid family quarrel. It was obvious to her that Troy was a genuinely sweet guy, and she realized that the more he showed interest in her, the harder she was falling for him. A few weeks ago, she would have never opened up to him the way she was about to, but she knew she could now.

"You know Michael?"

Troy forced a nod, feeling his anger boil inside as his demeanor changed a bit.

"Well, my dad has been pushing me a lot lately to go out with him. They even invited him and his family over for dinner this week, but I told them I wouldn't be back the night they were planning it. I've told my dad so many times that I don't like Michael and that he's a jerk, but my dad just doesn't see it. Apparently it doesn't matter to him what I want in life," Gabriella finished, her own anger rising as her grip on the seat tightened.

A few seconds later though, Gabriella felt her anger dissipate while a sense of calmness took over her. She glanced down at her hand, smiling at the reason for that calmness. Troy had boldly placed a warm, comforting hand over hers, and he hadn't removed it yet, but instead squeezed her hand gently in his. "I'm sorry your dad is putting you through this. Michael is a jerk and you definitely deserve way better than him."

Gabriella grinned at Troy's sincerity, her lips tugging upwards into a wider smile when Troy's eyes connected with hers.

"Aww Troy, that was so touching. Do share who in fact she deserves to be with," Chad teased, interrupting their moment which only lasted for a few seconds as Troy suddenly found himself wishing they would have sat as far away from Chad as possible.

Glaring at Chad, Troy paused for a moment, forcing a smile on his face while looking at Gabriella. "Just one second."

Unwillingly releasing his grip on her hand, Troy stood up and grabbed Chad's pillow that was next to him before proceeding to whack Chad over the head with it twice before sitting back down with a small grin, pretending as if nothing happened. "Sorry about that again. I promise to invest in some duct tape before our trip back home."

"It's okay," Gabriella laughed, finding the whole situation so funny that she was nearly unaffected by Chad's embarrassing comments.

The two didn't say anything for a few moments as Troy was still far too embarrassed by his roommate. However, Gabriella broke the silence finally, bringing her hand over to grip his this time. "Thank you Troy."

Nothing more was said. Instead Troy just flashed her a smile and flipped his hand over, entwining his fingers through hers causing butterflies to spread through both of their bodies. As the drive went on, their hands never separated, but stayed intertwined between them as neither wanted to let go. An hour into the trip, Gabriella had fallen asleep, her hand still clasped with his, while her head drifted to fall on his shoulder. Unable to resist, Troy let his own head rest on hers before his eyes slowly shut. The two were completely in their own world, oblivious to everyone around them, and not even aware of Chad anymore as he turned around and took a few pictures of them, confident that they'd thank him later.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

In all of her life, Gabriella could not remember a time when she had been so frazzled and nervous. This was supposed to be the start of a relaxing, basketball-filled week for her, yet her heart had not stopped racing since the moment she set foot in her hotel room. The room looked nothing like the spotless, orderly place it did when she'd first walked in. It looked like a tornado went through. It was a complete mess. Clothes were strewn everywhere from the floor, to the chair in the corner of the room, to the bed. Her suitcase lay open on the bed with clothes still in it, and Gabriella stared at it with a hopeless glance before glancing at the clock on the bedside table. Time was flying by and now, her nerves were growing even more.

Digging in her pocket, she pulled out her cell phone, scrolling through the contact list before stopping to stare at the name that was highlighted. With a deep breath, she finally succumbed and pressed the call button. She needed help. She couldn't put it off anymore.

* * *

In all of his life, Chad had never seen anything like this. His jaw hung slightly open as he closed the hotel room door, a bag of fast food in one hand and a drink in the other. He'd never seen his friend in this condition. The suitcase lay open on the bed and clothes were on nearly every surface. Chad watched as his friend paced back and forth in front of the bed before pausing to look at the clock and cursing under his breath.

Chad rolled his eyes first before setting his food down on the table and clearing his throat to make his presence known. Troy needed help obviously. It was time for him to step in.

* * *

"Sharpay! I have thirty minutes left! THIRTY MINUTES! And I have done absolutely nothing! I need to take a shower, pick out clothes, do my hair, and find some way to stop sweating like a nervous wreck. I need help! Maybe I should just call and cancel…"

"Gabriella Montez, you will do no such thing! Now sit down, shut up, and listen for a second!" Gabriella winced and pulled the phone away when her best friend's shrill voice rang in her ear. "Are you sitting?"

"Yes," Gabriella lied, taking a deep breath before clearing off a space on the bed and sitting down.

"Okay good. Now, you underestimate me as your best friend, and I'd hate to say I told you so, but I told you so." Gabriella rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the arrogant comment. She should've known Sharpay would rub this in her face. "Now, as your best friend, I made sure you would be prepared for such a situation, so, look in the very bottom of your suitcase and you'll find what you are looking for."

A look of confusion spread across Gabriella's face and with a quick spin, she turned towards her suitcase, digging through to the bottom.

"What's this?" Gabriella lifted up a long plastic bag, opening it and peering inside.

"You can thank me later. Now, go get your shower and put that on." Gabriella pulled the item out, gathering her other things before heading towards the bathroom. "Someone will be there to do your hair and makeup shortly."

"Okay, thanks Shar…wait WHAT?" The words suddenly registered in Gabriella's brain, and she stopped just short of entering the bathroom.

"I'll talk to you later!"

"Sharpay! Don't you dare hang up! What did you say?"

"I'll talk to you later?" Sharpay repeated in a questioning tone, hopeful Gabriella would brush off her earlier comment.

"No, before that. Repeat please."

Sharpay rolled her eyes at Gabriella's stern voice. "I said, someone will be coming to do your hair and makeup shortly, so hurry your butt up and get in the shower!"

"Makeup? Sharpay, you know I don't wear makeup."

"You do now."

"I don't have any makeup."

"Already taken care of. Do you want my help or not? You call me, all crazy, and here I have everything under control, and now you're complaining about my help."

"Yeah but makeup…," Gabriella whined.

"Hush! You will put on that dress, you will wear make-up, you will have your hair done, you will wear the heels they bring you…"

"HEELS!"

"I'm just kidding," Sharpay laughed, knowing her best friend was sending her a death glare at the moment.

"You'd better be."

"Gabriella, just take a deep breath. Get your shower, get changed, do as I say, and kiss that boy tonight. Oh! And call me the second you are back. I want details! Bye!"

Before Gabriella could say another word, the phone went silent. With a shake of her head, Gabriella set her phone down and made her way into the bathroom. Taking a deep breath as she stood in front of the mirror, she finally relaxed a bit and watched the smile seep through onto her face while her thoughts drifted back to earlier that afternoon.

_They were both nervous wrecks. They both wanted so badly to say something, but thus far, their walk side by side had been filled with silence since they had left the bus with Troy carrying both his and Gabriella's luggage despite her protests. In the past seven hours, they had talked, held hands, and even took a nap with their heads resting together, but now, the comfort they had felt with one another had been replaced by this nervous energy. They wanted things the way they were mere minutes earlier, but both were too nervous to initiate that again. So with a slightly awkward silence along with a few accidental hand grazes and nervous shoulder bumps, the two walked side by side down the hotel hallway towards the elevators. _

_Troy felt his palms grow increasingly sweaty as he glanced at the girl next to him and then down to her hand which he swore was shaking slightly. He wanted to grab it so badly, but he was too nervous at the current moment. His thoughts were racing with just how he was going to approach the subject on his mind. While she was sleeping, he'd pulled out his phone, searching restaurants and things to do in the area near their hotel. Twenty minutes into his search, he found the place. He remembered it from a previous trip his family had taken to Phoenix, and he knew it'd be perfect. _

_He had planned to wait a few days before asking her to dinner, but two minutes after she'd laid her head on his shoulder and her soft, steady breaths wisped across his skin, he knew he couldn't wait any longer. He had to ask her before someone else did. _

_The elevator doors closed and the two looked up to watch as they started up to the fifth floor where their rooms were. Feeling her eyes on him, Troy's eyes ventured towards her, only to watch as she blushed and looked around the boring elevator. She was killing him. He just needed to know what she'd say. But he was so nervous that he couldn't formulate exactly what he wanted to say. He didn't want to turn into a rambling idiot in front of her. He didn't know if he had ever been this nervous in front of her. _

_As the elevator dinged, both of them finally looked forward, watching as the doors slid open. Holding his arm out in front of him, Troy motioned for Gabriella to step off first, readjusting their bags on his shoulder before following her down the hallway. Waving to a few of their teammates, the two continued down the hallway before they came to a stop in front of Gabriella's room. _

"_Thank you for carrying my bag." Gabriella's soft voice brought Troy out of his racing thoughts, his eyes drifting up from the floral carpet to connect with hers. _

"_Oh look who decided not to give me a hard time about carrying her bag anymore," Troy teased, nudging Gabriella's elbow with his. "I'm just messing with you Montez. You're welcome. Anytime," Troy grinned, his smile growing when a grin tugged at her lips. _

_Breaking eye contact, Gabriella dug in her pocket, pulling out her key card. "Well, I guess I'd better take my stuff inside and figure out what we're doing for dinner," Gabriella said, referring to herself and one of her teammates, whom she presumed was already inside the room. _

"_Yeah," Troy replied, feeling his heart speed up as he tried to spit out the words he'd been dying to say, but to no avail. _

"_Troy?" Gabriella called out, her smile calming Troy for just a moment. _

"_Yeah?" _

"_Um, I kinda need my bag," Gabriella smirked, pointing to the duffel bag on his shoulder. _

"_Oh! Right! Sorry," he replied sheepishly, taking the bag off his arm and setting it gently on Gabriella's shoulder. _

"_It's okay," Gabriella paused, looking up at Troy with what he could swear was a tinge of hope in her eyes, but it quickly faded when she blinked. "I'll see you tomorrow?" _

_Feeling his heart sink, Troy nodded and forced a small grin on his face. "Yeah, tomorrow. Have a good night." _

"_You too." Gabriella sighed while she watched him turn away. She'd been hoping he'd say something more…ask her to hang out that night, or ask her to catch breakfast in the morning, or ask her on a da-…no, he wouldn't do that, Gabriella thought as she sighed. _

_The key card slid into the door, lighting up green while the door unlocked, and without a look back, Gabriella pushed open the door. Seconds later she set her bag on the floor and shut the door, leaning back against it only to jump as she felt and heard a knock. _

_The door clicked open and Gabriella's jaw dropped open a bit in confusion when she saw Troy standing there. "Troy? You forget something?" _

"_No, not really," Troy admitted, his hand nervously scratching the back of his neck. "Well sorta actually." The confusion grew on Gabriella's face while she looked at the guy in front of her, trying to figure out what was going on. _

_Troy took a deep breath, finally gaining the courage to say what'd been on his mind. "I wanted to ask you…if you'd like to have dinner with me tonight?" _

"_Have dinner with you tonight?" Gabriella repeated, more due to her shock than a need for clarification. _

"_Yes, dinner," Troy said, taking another breath, "as in a date." _

_Gabriella's confused look completely disappeared, a huge smile replacing it. "A date?" She couldn't mask the excitement in her voice. _

"_Yeah, a date," Troy repeated, feeling his anxiety slowly be replaced by his own excitement due to her reaction. "So, what do you say?" _

"_I'd love to!" She exclaimed, her smile still present as it hadn't diminished one bit. _

"_Great! I'll pick you up in an hour? Is that okay?" _

"_An hour is perfect," Gabriella replied, not even thinking of anything else except the fact that her crush had just asked her out on a date. _

"_Okay, I'll see you then," Troy grinned, stepping forward and letting his hand graze her arm while his lips brushed against her cheek. "Bye Gabi." _

Gabriella finally snapped out of her thoughts, pulling her fingers away from her cheek where Troy had kissed her not too long before. Glancing at the time on her cell phone, Gabriella quickly shook her head and raced towards the shower, turning it on. She was running short on time and knew she needed to hurry. Hair and makeup weren't really her thing. But this was Troy, and for some reason when she thought about it, she didn't mind doing either for him. She wanted to look beautiful for their date, and that's all that mattered to her.

* * *

"Finally!" Chad breathed out in an exaggerated sigh as Troy came out of the bathroom, dressed in a black collared, long sleeve shirt and dark blue jeans. "See? I told you that you'd look okay in that."

"Yeah, cause I base all of my styling tips on your opinion," Troy rolled his eyes, gesturing to Chad's t-shirt that had a bride and a groom on it with the words 'game over' written beneath. "Anyways, what'd you find out?"

"No such luck with the game tonight. The tickets are too pricey and plus, if you want to go out to a nice dinner first, you'd never make it by tip-off. It's an early start tonight."

"Well now what are we going to do?" Troy groaned, bummed that his plan to take Gabriella to a Suns basketball game had fallen through.

"Fear not, my friend. Your best buddy Chad has a plan."

"And what exactly is that?"

Chad spun his laptop around so Troy could see it, and Troy walked a few steps forward, shaking his head when he saw the screen. "Family fun park?"

"Heck yeah! Gabriella will love this! You have the arcades, go-karts, mini-golf…what more can you want?"

"Yeah, it'll be awesome to spend our first date along with a bunch of junior highers out on their first dates with their parents as chaperones."

"Oh come on, stop being a party pooper."

Troy couldn't let the phrase slide, raising his eyebrow as he stifled his laughter. "A party pooper?"

"Shut up," Chad glared, before continuing his argument. "Troy, this is a good idea man. She'll like this, trust me. You don't want to take her to a movie and not talk the whole time right?" Troy's silence prompted Chad to continue. "Or maybe you do want to take her there and not talk much. I get your thinking Troy," Chad added with a wink.

"No you idiot," Troy laughed, rolling his eyes while playfully shoving his friend. "I don't want to take her to a movie on our first date."

"Wait, hold up. I think you're not thinking this through man. A movie is a good idea!"

"No Chad!" Troy said firmly. "I want to take her somewhere where we can talk-,"

"You're such a girl," Chad interrupted, earning a glare from Troy.

"Look, I'll think of something. Maybe I can find some time to talk to someone who lives here and they can give me a good idea."

"I'm telling you dude…Family fun park."

"I'm telling you dude," Troy mocked in the same tone, "Junior high date night."

"Fine, have a lame date. See if I care when you come back whining and complaining that she dumped you 'cause you're so boring."

"Fine," Troy sighed, holding out his hand, "give me the address just in case."

"You see?" Chad patted his chest, handing Troy a piece of paper. "Always come to Chad for advice."

"Yeah, sure."

"Shouldn't you be leaving?" Chad said, changing the subject after his eyes caught the time on the clock.

"Crap!" Troy exclaimed, stuffing his wallet and phone in his pockets before hurrying towards the door. "See you later tonight man!"

"Don't stay out too late now! Call me when you get there!" Chad teased in a motherly tone, laughing when Troy rolled his eyes before slamming the door.

Flipping on the TV, Chad turned it to a game before reaching over and picking up the room phone.

"Hello, room service? What kind of ice cream do you have?"

* * *

Troy shifted back and forth on his feet in nervous anticipation while he stood in front of Gabriella's closed door. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Troy finally brought his hand up and knocked on the door. The moment she opened the door, his breath caught in his throat. Troy took in what she was wearing, before his eyes fell on her face once again and he gave her a smile in greeting.

"Hi."

"Hi," Gabriella almost laughed at his simple greeting, smiling widely as she returned it. She could tell he was nervous just like she was, but nervous in a good way.

"You look really pretty," Troy told her, blushing a bit at his confession.

His blush was contagious as Gabriella's cheeks inflamed as well before she shyly thanked him in response.

"You ready?" Gabriella nodded, placing her small hand in Troy's outstretched one and allowing him to pull her down the hallway.

The two made their way out of the hotel and down the street hand in hand—the restaurant that Troy had chosen being only a short walk from their hotel. The walk was filled with small talk about the tournament and a few shy glances, but their hands never separated until they arrived at the restaurant and were taken to their table. Troy pulled out a chair for Gabriella, making sure she was seated before taking his own across from her, both of them displaying matching grins.

"This place is awesome!" Gabriella gushed looking around at all the sports memorabilia decorating the restaurant, along with the numerous flat screens displaying various sports games.

"They have a game room in the back too with couches and flat screens for video games, and tons of sports arcade games too. We can go check it out after we eat," Troy said excitedly. "That is if you want to of course, we don't have to," he added quickly, not wanting her to feel pressured.

Gabriella shook her head, smiling coyly at him. "It sounds like fun Troy, don't worry." Troy smiled back as a sigh of relief slipped through his lips.

"So how'd you find this place?" Gabriella asked while the two opened their menus and began to browse the various selections.

"My family went on a roadtrip to California a few years ago and we stopped in Phoenix and ate at this place. I just remember Nate and I spending most of the night in the game room. My parents had to basically drag us out of there," Troy laughed, thinking back on the memory. "So when I was looking up things to do on my phone during the bus ride earlier, I came across this place and remembered it."

"I knew you weren't sleeping that whole time I was!" Gabriella pointed out causing a sheepish grin to appear on Troy's face.

"I was for most of it! I just couldn't sleep and thought it was the perfect opportunity to do some research for tonight," Troy explained, pausing when he saw Gabriella's jaw drop slightly and her eyes light up. "What?"

Gabriella shook her head, shyly refusing to talk.

"Come on," Troy pressed, reaching his hand across the table to brush his fingertips across her hand that was lying on top of her menu.

"You were thinking about asking me out since earlier today," Gabriella stated quietly, obviously touched but embarrassed to admit that the knowledge made her all giddy inside.

Taking her hand in his, Troy flipped her hand around so he could slip his fingers between hers before squeezing her hand gently, his blue eyes drawing her in. "I've been thinking about asking you out for awhile Gabi, I just was too much of a wimp to do it sooner."

Her heart was racing at his honest confession, and given that honesty she decided to return the favor. "Well, I'm glad you did because I've been wanting to go on a date with you for awhile."

Staring at each other with giant identical smiles lighting up their faces, the two didn't even notice the waiter as he walked up until a gentle clearing of the throat brought them out of their daze. Sharing a small laugh, they looked down at their menus, Troy waiting to place his order until after Gabriella as their hands remained loosely connected.

Nearly two hours later after eating while watching a bit of the Suns game and playing a few games in the arcade room, Gabriella and Troy made their way out of the restaurant. Nearing the door, Gabriella looked back over her shoulder noticing Troy was no longer right behind her and instead was busy talking to their waiter from earlier.

With a crooked grin tugging at his lips once he realized he was caught, Troy shook the waiter's hand and walked back over to Gabriella, his eyes never leaving hers. "Forget something?"

Troy placed his hand on Gabriella's back, opening the door for her and ushering her through before taking her hand in his. "Nah, I was just getting directions for the next part of our date."

"Directions huh?" Gabriella smirked, nudging him in his side gently. "And here I thought guys _never_ asked for directions."

"Shut up Montez," Troy chided playfully, while nudging her back.

Not too long after turning the corner outside of the restaurant, Troy and Gabriella reached their destination—a beautiful lake settled in the middle of a park. Leading them over to a bench near the edge of the lake, Troy held out his hand motioning for Gabriella to take a seat before he sat down next to her, resting his arm along the back of the bench.

"So did you stop here too on your trip with your family?"

Chuckling, Troy shook his head. "No, the waiter at the restaurant recommended this place to me. I had been trying to think of a good place to go after the restaurant and I was coming up with nothing. Chad gave me a suggestion, but it's Chad and I wasn't quite sure I liked the idea."

"What was his idea?"

"A family fun park," Troy laughed, causing Gabriella to join in.

"Well, that wouldn't have been too bad."

"Yeah, except for the fact that we'd be with a bunch of eighth graders on their first dates."

"True," Gabriella giggled, leaning her head on Troy's shoulder when she felt his arm wrap around her shoulder and tug her closer. Snuggled together, Gabriella and Troy sat there for awhile discussing various topics like their games the next day, the tournament back home, and childhood stories, just getting to know each other that much better.

"What time do we have to be back?" Gabriella asked, neither one of them wanting to leave, but both aware of the curfew lurking over them.

Regretfully removing his arm from her shoulder, Troy pulled his hand back before glancing at his watch and sighing. "We have to be back by 9:30, because we both have early games tomorrow. And it's 9:00 right now, so we should probably start heading back soon."

Nodding, Gabriella shifted, starting to stand up and smiling to herself when she felt Troy's hand entwine with hers as he stood as well. "This place is so pretty. I wish our game wasn't so early so we could just stay out here longer."

"Well, we have all week, so we can come back on another date later on," Troy responded, his words escaping his mouth before he'd even thought them through. Realizing what he'd suggested, Troy brought his hand up to rub the back of his neck nervously, his eyes glancing away as he cursed himself for letting what he was thinking slip.

His eyes were brought back to Gabriella's though when he felt her hand tentatively reach up and tug his arm down before loosely lacing their fingers together. "Coming back on another date sounds great."

His heart seemed to beat louder at her confession, and with a sudden burst of confidence, Troy brought his hand that wasn't entwined with hers up to brush a stray curl behind her ear before lowering his lips to hers while his hand softly cupped her neck.

The moment his lips touched hers, Gabriella felt her breath catch in her throat before placing her hand on his waist, kissing him back softly. Troy moaned quietly when he felt her other hand rest on his neck and tangle in his hair. Pulling apart after a few seconds, Gabriella and Troy both couldn't stop their smiles. Troy then brought both of his hands to cup her face before softly brushing his lips against hers, once, twice, and then a third time. Leaning his forehead to rest against hers, the two grinned at each other when their eyes fluttered open, Troy's hands still cupping her face while hers were now entwined together around his waist.

Pressing one more lingering kiss to her lips, Troy let his hand trail down her side before finding her hand and lacing their fingers together, pulling her as close as possible while they began their walk back to the hotel. For both of them, the night had definitely gone much better than expected.

* * *

**AN: Alright, so I know I fail miserably. School/real life just keeps getting in the way of writing and I kind of lost my muse for this story for a bit. But I'm sticking with it, and hoping to finish the next chapter soon. I won't promise when it'll be up though because I don't want to let people down more than I have. So if you are still reading, thank you so much, and I will promise that I'll do my best on this story. **

**Time for a quick exciting announcement. A bunch of people from the hsm fandom are getting involved in an auction to help with the relief effort in Japan. I will be participating as well as some other hsm authors, so if you write or would just like to donate, please check it out. The link is in my profile or you can search wildcatsgivebac on twitter or live journal  
**


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